Raggedy
by raggedyponds
Summary: Quite some time ago now, Amelia Pond and Scarlett Watkins made an imaginary friend. Nobody believed them, of course; not their family, their friends, or even lovely Rory. That's why everyone was so shocked, when; twelve years later... their imaginary friend came back.
1. Raggedy Man

**Chapter One:**

_"Amelia! It's lovely to see you, dear. How've you been?" asked Mrs. Watkins as Amelia stepped into her welcoming home._

_"Uh, good, thanks. Sorry but I just _really_ need to see Scarlett," the young girl replied in her thick Scottish accent, getting straight down to business. She didn't have time to fool around. _

_"She's in her room, love. I'll bring you two up some drinks soon, yeah?" the tall brunette smiled politely. She had always liked Amelia Pond ever since she befriended her daughter at the young age of 5._

_With a quick nod, Amelia ran up the stairs – almost knocking down Charlie; the eldest of the Watkins siblings – and burst into her best friend's bedroom. _

_"Amelia!" little Scarlett said, looking up from her book in surprise. "I didn't know you were coming over." _

_"Neither did I, but I have to tell you what happened yesterday," she replied without taking a breath, hopping up onto Scarlett's bed to face her._

_"Why, what happened?" her friend frowned, concerned. She was worried that her Aunt may have gone out and left her again. Whenever that happened, Scarlett's mother usually invited her to stay the night._

_"A man landed in my garden," said Amelia, her face remaining impassive._

_"You what?" _

_"A man landed in my garden; a raggedy man. He called himself the Doctor."_

_"The Doctor?" Scarlett asked; abandoning all hopes of continuing with her book as her question was met with a nod._

_"Doctor who?"_

_"Just the Doctor," Amelia shrugged._

_"Then where is he now?" _

_"He left," the redhead said, her voice dripping with disappointment. He had promised her five minutes yet hours passed and he still hadn't returned. "He said he would come back in five minutes but he never did."_

_"Are you sure you weren't… dreaming?"_

_Amelia let out a sigh, as if she knew how everyone would react to the news of this 'Doctor'. _

_"I wasn't dreaming, Scarlett! Come on, you _have_ to believe me."_

_This caused Scarlett to pause. This was Amelia Pond she was talking to. Her best friend. She had to give her the benefit of the doubt, didn't she?_

_"Alright. Let's just say I believe you. What do we do now? Just wait for him to come back?"_

_"I don't know," she said honestly. _

_Then it was Scarlett's turn to sigh. _

_"Well until we figure it out, how about you tell me all about this Doctor?" _

And that's exactly what she did.

Scarlett learned a lot about the Doctor that night.

She learned that he hated apples, yoghurt, bacon, beans, bread, butter… A lot of things, apparently. But he loved fish fingers and custard. Couldn't stop eating it, she heard. Scarlett made a mental note to have that put on her to-do list.

But ever since that night, little Amelia's friend became Scarlett's, too. She became invested in the story; invested in _him_. For years after that night, the pair would continue to talk about him; what they think he's doing, if he's okay, if he'll come back. They even made their dear friend Rory dress up as him when they played.

Nobody really believed the story of the raggedy man. Not Scarlett's mum or dad, and certainly not Amelia's aunt. Not even little Rory believed it. He just went along with everything to keep his best friends happy.

And that's where the big shocker comes in. Quite some time ago now, Amelia and Scarlett made an imaginary friend. And twelve years later… their imaginary friend came back.

* * *

It was 10am when Scarlett woke up to a bright beam of light streaming in through the window, causing her to bury her head further into her pillow and groan. She never was a big morning person, and she personally thought that anyone who was should be sent for psychiatric help.

She had just made mental plans to sleep for another hour or two when the phone rang suddenly, causing her to groan louder.

"Hello?" She mumbled into the device after fumbling around to pick it up.

"Watkins, get over here as soon as you can. And bring back-up," said the person on the other side.

"Amy? Why are you speaking like a Victorian?" Scarlett asked as she stood up clumsily and started chucking on some clothes that she deemed to be wearable without getting looks from the whole of Leadworth.

"No questions. Just get here. I've got him restrained," she replied.

"Okay, okay, whatever. I'll be right over."

And then she hung up, leaving Scarlett to wonder what the bloody hell her best friend was up to now.

"Oh Amy, what am I gonna do with you?" The brunette muttered to herself as she shoved her feet into her shoes and quickly ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame the beast.

She glanced in the mirror quickly before deciding she looked presentable and ran out the door to Amy's house. It wasn't that far, just a few streets away actually, yet she still managed to be out of breath by the time she got there.

_God, I really need to get fit_, Scarlett thought to herself.

As she burst into Amy's house and made her way upstairs with ease, she heard her best friend speak to whoever was in her company.

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time," she heard, causing a frown to form on Scarlett's face.

"How long?" asked a man.

There was a slight pause before Amy spoke again, as if she were contemplating answering truthfully.

"Six months."

That's when Scarlett decided to show her face.

"Finally, Watkins! What took you so long?"

"What are you doing?" The younger girl asked; glancing down at the floor to find a man handcuffed to the radiator. "Who is he? And why do you keep calling me Watkins?"

"I'm doing my job, he was breaking and entering, and because it's your name," she replied.

Scarlett shook her head slightly as she tried to comprehend everything that was happening._ So my best friend calls and insists that I come over and when I do, she's pretending to be a policewoman with a man handcuffed to her radiator_, Scarlett thought to herself. _Just another typical day with Amy Pond, then._

Her eyes found the man on the ground again and she took a sharp intake of breath. "Wait a minute," Scarlett started, "Wait, you're the Doctor… Aren't you?"

He had to be. Scarlett recognised his disheveled hair and messy clothes from the drawings Amy did as a child. "Certainly raggedy," she added, before Amy slapped her arm to silence her.

"How many rooms?" he asked suddenly, although his eyes stayed on the slightly shorter girl for a moment longer.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Amy.

"On this floor; how many rooms on this floor? Count them for me, now."

"Five," she said confidently before pointing at each of them with her index finger without a single glance back. "One, two, three, four, five."

Normally, Scarlett would have agreed with her. But after taking a quick look around the house, she realised that there aren't just five doors. There were…

"Six," said the Doctor and Scarlett simultaneously.

Amy laughed. "Six?"

"Look," said the Doctor. "Look exactly where you don't want to look, where you never wanna look; the corner of your eye. Look behind you."

Amy hesitated, as any normal person would, before turning slowly. "That's… that's not possible. How can that be possible?"

"There's a perception filter all-round the door. Sensed it last time I was here. Should've seen it," came the reply. He sounded almost angry with himself.

Scarlett considered his words. From what she could gather, there was some kind of force around the room that tricked people like her – humans with ordinary minds, that is – into being unable to see it.

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed. Neither of us noticed," Amy said, mainly toward the other female in the house.

"The filter stops you noticing. Something came here, a while ago, to hide, and it's still hiding, and you need to uncuff me now!" he said, tugging hard on the handcuffs.

Scarlett cringed. If he tried any harder, the poor man would break his wrist.

Her eyes flickered back to Amy as she slowly stepped towards the door. "I don't have the key, I lost it."

"How can you have lost it?! And stay away from that door!"

Scarlett knelt down beside him then, pulling a hair grip out of her pocket – _every girl should have a supply somewhere, _she thought – and began to fiddle with the handcuffs in an attempt to unlock them.

"Do not touch that door!" he continued. "Listen to me, do not open that –"

He threw his hands up in the air then, both making it harder to set him free and giving Scarlett an indication that Amy had ignored his pleads.

"Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" he asked before finally turning to look at his acquaintance. "Again?"

The young girl replied with a simple shrug. _Actually, you have quite a nice face, if I do say so myself, _Scarlett thought.

"What's your name?" he asked, his eyes scanning her face. _Blue eyes, longish brown hair with subtle blonde highlights. Dyed? No, no, these are natural, _the Doctor added as he took a quick glance at her roots. _She looks young, but then again, so do I. _

"Scarlett," she replied. "Scarlett Watkins."

He then smiled for the first time since she got there. "It's nice to meet you, Scarlett Watkins."

"There's nothing here," said Amy from the room the Doctor told her to avoid, successfully interrupting the pair's first meeting.

"Whatever's in there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it? Now please, just get out!" The Doctor yelled. "And where's my screwdriver? Silver thing, blue at the end, where did it go?!"

"Silver, blue at the end?" replied Amy.

"My screwdriver, yeah," he nodded, despite the fact that the redhead couldn't see him.

"It's here."

"Must've rolled under the door."

"Yeah, must've," agreed Amy, before speaking again in a quieter voice. "And then it must've... jumped up on the table."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Get out of there. Get out of there! Get out! Get out of there!"

"What is it? What are you doing?" Scarlett asked, her voice rising slightly. She had to make sure her best friend was safe.

"There's nothing here, but..."

"Corner of your eye," said the Doctor slowly. "But don't try to see it; if it knows you've seen it, it will kill you! Don't look at it! Do not look."

There was a pause – just a brief one – before Amy screamed and ran back to the pair, holding something tightly in her hand. She never was one to go by the rules, after all.

The Doctor took the object – which Scarlett assumed to be his 'screwdriver' – out of her hand and aimed it at the door, successfully locking it shut. He then pointed the device at the cuffs, which she suddenly remembered she had stopped working on, and frowned.

"Oh, what's the bad alien done to you?" he muttered as she turned the pin to the right and the handcuffs snapped open.

He casted a grateful look Scarlett's way before removing the cuffs completely.

"Will that door hold it?" asked Amy in reference to whatever had been in her house for years. She was finding it harder to keep up her English accent with each passing minute.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course. It's an interdimensional multiform from outer space, they're all terrified of wood."

Scarlett bit down on her lower lip._ There's a potentially life-threatening monster in my presence, and I'm laughing? _She sighed, scolding herself.

Amy gave him a scathing look, and the door suddenly flashed yellow from within. "What's that? What's it doing?"

"I don't know. Getting dressed? Run. Just go, your back-up's coming, I'll be fine."

Amy sighed, "There is no back-up."

"I heard you, you said she's bringing back-up," he said with a small gesture towards Scarlett.

"I was pretending; it's a pretend radio."

"But you're a police woman."

"I'm a kissogram!" she finally admitted, pulling off her hat and letting her red locks fall around her shoulders.

_Well, at least that's finally out in the open, _Scarlett reasoned.

That was when the door at the end of the hall burst opened, and an older man in a blue uniform stood with a dog on a chain, staring down at the three of them.

"But… it's just –" Scarlett started.

"No it isn't. Look at the faces," said the Doctor.

The dog started to growl, and then bark. But when they looked, the dog's face wasn't moving. But the man's was… The man was barking.

"What?" said Amy in disbelief, "I'm sorry but what?!"

"It's all one creature, one creature disguised as two. Clever, old multi-form. A bit of a rushed job, though, got the voices a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed, how'd you fix that?"

Scarlett's eyes widened. She highly doubted that taunting the man would get them very far.

The man barked again, causing the girls to jump slightly in surprise. Then he opened his mouth and showed them his teeth… His large, pointy teeth.

"Stay away!" yelled the Doctor. "We're safe, wanna know why?" He patted Amy's shoe. "She sent for back-up."

"I didn't send for back-up!" admitted Amy in an exasperated tone.

"I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives," sighed the Doctor. "Okay, yeah, no backup! And _that's _why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we _had_ backup then you'd have to kill us."

_"Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."_

"What the bloody hell is that?" Scarlett asked.

"Well, that would be backup," he replied. "Okay, one more time. We _do_ have backup, and that's _definitely _why we're safe."

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"Well, safe apart from, you know… incineration."

The announcement started again.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."_

The unknown man and his dog started to wonder into another room to look out of the window, and the girls felt the Doctor's hands slip into theirs.

"Run," he said before repeating it again with more urgency. "Run!"

Then he tugged on their hands, and dragged them outside.


	2. The Apple

**Chapter Two:**

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?!" asked the Doctor as soon as they stepped outside.

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid! What's going on; tell me! Tell me!" replied Amy frantically.

"An alien convict is hiding in your spare room, disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"

"Yes!" said Scarlett. _Of course I have questions,_ Scarlett thought_. Any normal person would. For example; where has he been for twelve years? Why didn't he come back sooner? Why does he still look exactly like Amy had described him? How can he be so attractive when he's bound to be an alien? Wait, no, scratch that last part._

"Me too," he replied before running over to a blue police box at the bottom of the garden. Scarlett vaguely remembered Amy saying that that was his time machine, but how he managed to fit into that small thing and travel through time was beyond her. He tried to unlock the machine, but to no avail. "No! Don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in."

"Well, that's just fantastic, isn't it?" Scarlett said, throwing her arms up in the air. Time machine or not, having somewhere safe to stay for the time being would be great.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated." _

"Come on!" yelled Amy as she attempted to pull both her best friend and the Doctor away from her house.

"Wait, wait, wait, the shed! I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces!" said the Doctor, making his way over to the small shed at the bottom of the garden.

"So, there's a new one! Now really isn't the time to discuss Amy's DIY choices!" Scarlett sighed and gave his arm a tug but he didn't move. He had more important matters on his mind… like how this shed has gotten so old so quickly.

"Yeah, but the new one's got old! It's ten years old at least!" He sniffed the shed before licking the side of it, somehow managing to avoid splinters. "Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late." He then turned to Amy. "You said six months! Why did you say six months?"

"We've gotta go," Amy said, grabbing their arms once more and pulling them out of the vicinity.

"This matters. This is important! Why did you say six months?" the Doctor tried again.

Finally Amy snapped, and turned to face him, yelling in her normal Scottish accent. "Well, why did you say five minutes?!"

"What?" whispered the Doctor as Scarlett glanced back at the house to see the man and his dog moving, "Come on," she urged.

"_What?_" the Doctor repeated.

"Come on!" She grabbed both their hands and dragged them out of the garden as the voice from above continued.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated." _

When they finally reached the road leading to the village square, the Doctor stopped and turned again to face Amy. "You're Amelia," he said matter-of-factly, despite only learning this information just moments before.

"You're late," she replied sharply as she continued to walk; the Doctor and Scarlett following suit.

"Amelia Pond! You're the little girl!"

"I'm Amelia, and you're late!"

"What happened?!" he asked, eyes wide as he took in the now grown-up woman in front of him. This wasn't the Amelia he knew.

"Twelve years," scoffed Amy in reply.

"You hit me with a cricket bat!"

Scarlett snickered. That was just _so_ Amy.

"Twelve years," she repeated.

"A cricket bat!" he emphasized. Okay, yes, twelve years was quite a long time to wait for someone – especially when they promise they'll only be five minutes – but she used a _cricket bat!_

"_Twelve _years, and _four_ psychiatrists."

"_Four_?" he said in disbelief.

"She kept biting them," the brunette smirked.

He turned to look at Scarlett, obviously finding this information vaguely hilarious. "Why?"

"They said you weren't real," she replied simply.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated." _

"Wait, that doesn't sound like it's coming from up there…" Scarlett continued, before they turned to find the noise blaring from the speakers of an ice-cream van.

"No, no, no, come on. What? We're being staked out... by an ice cream van," exclaimed Amy as Scarlett frowned. She was never going to be able to look at ice-cream the same way ever again.

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" asked the Doctor.

"It's supposed to be Clair De Lune," answered the vendor, a look of confusion on his face.

_"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."_

"Doctor, what's happening?" Scarlett frowned.

He didn't reply. Instead, he looked around for a moment before running off towards Mrs. Angelo's – a lovely old woman who lives in their village – house. The girls turned to look at each other and, as if by silent agreement, they followed him.

They're not sure what he said but by the time they got there, he was flicking through the channels on poor Mrs. Angelo's TV. "I was just about to phone... It's on every channel!" She said before she noticed Amy running in. "Hello Scarlett! And oh, Amy dear! Are you a policewoman now?"

Scarlett snickered before wandering over to the Doctor as their conversation played out.

"I thought you were a nurse…" rambled Mrs. Angelo.

"I can be a nurse."

"Or actually; a nun?"

"I dabble!" Amy lied with a nervous laugh. On the inside, she wanted nothing more than to stuff a sock in Mrs. Angelo's mouth so that she could no longer speak.

Shaking her head, Mrs. Angelo turned to the Doctor. "I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before!"

"Not me. Brand new face." He stretched out his mouth, as wide as he could, as if to show her how new his face is. "First time on. And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

"She goes to parties and she kisses people. In outfits," Scarlett explained, clearly finding this whole situation extremely amusing. She had always thought Amy's job was a little odd but on the plus side, it meant that they always had costumes for Halloween.

"It's a laugh!" said Amy defensively, hitting her friend's arm for the second time that morning.

"And what about you? What's your job?" asked the Doctor curiously.

"I'm a waitress," Scarlett answered, suddenly embarrassed of her profession.

"See, now _that_ is a respectable job," he nodded, looking pointedly at Amy.

Amy sighed, "You're worse than my aunt!"

"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt!" He turned back to Mrs. Angelo, "And, that is _not_ how I'm introducing myself."

Mrs. Angelo nodded before the Doctor went off on another one of his ramblings which Scarlett noticed occur quite frequently. "Okay. Planet this size has what; two poles? Your basic molten core? Uh, they're gonna need a forty per cent fission blast." Scarlett nodded in agreement, hearing his words but not understanding a bit of them. "But they'll have to power up first. So, assuming a medium sized star ship... that's twenty minutes. What do you think? Twenty minutes?" he asked Jeff who had just walked in aimlessly.

"Are you the Doctor?" asked Jeff.

"He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor! From all those cartoons and games from when you two were little? The Raggedy Doctor! It's him!" exclaimed the older Angelo, a huge smile on her face.

"Gran? It's him, isn't it? It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up," scolded Amy, "Twenty minutes to what?"

"The human residence. They're not talking about your house; they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship. Aaand, it's going to incinerate the planet." He paused, "Twenty minutes to the end of the world."

* * *

The threesome finished up at the house and began walking along the village green before the Doctor spoke up. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"Leadworth," said Amy.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it." Sure, it was small, but it was still home.

"Is there an airport?" he asked.

"No," Scarlett said simply.

"A nuclear power station?"

"Ha, no," she laughed sarcastically.

"Even just a little one?" he tried, desperately.

"No!"

"Nearest city?" he asked.

"Half an hour by car," replied Amy.

"We don't have half an hour. Do we have a car?"

"No."

The Doctor looked around one more time before sighing. "Oh, that's good! Fantastic, that is, twenty minutes to save the world, and I've got a Post Office. And it's _shut_. _What_ is that?"

Amy and Scarlett followed his gaze to the duck pond.

"It's a duck pond," explained Amy as they follow the Doctor's path.

"Why aren't there any ducks?" he continued.

"There are never any ducks," Scarlett shrugged, though she supposed ducks would probably liven the pond up a bit.

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?"

"It just is! Is it really that important, the duck pond?"

During their squabble, the sky started to change. It was still light out, but the sun looked… strange.

"What's wrong with the Sun?" asked Amy. Now, she was no expert on Geography, but she was pretty sure the sky wasn't supposed to look like that.

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force field; they've sealed off your upper atmosphere, and now they're getting ready to boil the planet."

"Oh, great. We could've been in this situation with any old monster but we get the ones that want to _boil the planet_. Just my luck," Scarlett sighed.

That was when everyone in the park – males and females alike – pulled out their phones and raised them to the sky.

"Oh, and here they come; the human race. See, the end comes, as it was always going to, down a _video phone_," frowned the Doctor, emphasizing his last words with disgust and ignoring Scarlett's little outburst.

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up," concluded Amy.

"Why would I wind you up?" asked the Doctor genuinely.

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed me."

"Then I grew up."

"You never want to do that," he answered. And Scarlett agreed. It may sound stupid but even as she was growing up she had hoped the Doctor really was there that night. She had hoped that he was real, that he might come back. Now it seemed like her wish had come true.

"Twenty minutes! I can do it!" said the Doctor enthusiastically after a moment of thinking. "Twenty minutes, the planet burns, run to your loved ones and say goodbye... or stay and help me."

Scarlett stepped closer to the Doctor but Amy stayed put.

"No," she said.

"What?" the English girl frowned.

"NO!" She then grabbed hold of the Doctor's tie, tightly, and dragged him towards a just-parked car in the car park right behind them. Scarlett dragged behind.

"Amy, what are you doing?! Are you out of your mind?!" she urged. _Twenty minutes to the end of the world and she decides to stall the only person who can save us… Genius Amelia Pond, _Scarlett frowned before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"Yes, I second that!" the Doctor snapped as Amy opened the car door, and slammed it closed on his tie, trapping him there. She then proceeded to take the car keys off the old man who owned the car – Mr. Henderson – and lock it.

"Who are you?" barked Amy, stepping closer to the Doctor.

"You know who I am. Look at the sky. End of the world. Twenty minutes."

"Well, better talk quickly then," she retorted.

"Amy… I _am_ going to need my car back," said Mr. Henderson, who had been watching the whole ordeal.

"You'll get it back soon, Mr. Henderson. Just go off and have a coffee," Scarlett said as politely as she could.

"Right. Yes…"

He left just as the Doctor started searching through his pockets to pull out an apple. "Catch," he said as he tossed it to Amy. She did, and she stared at it. At a glance Scarlett could see that the apple had a happy face carved into it. It's the one she gave him the first time they met.

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you twelve years ago is true. I'm real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go right now, everything you've ever known is over."

"Amy… you have to let him go," her best friend pleaded.

She shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Just twenty minutes," he tried again. "Just believe me for twenty minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me, and you _know_ it's the same one."

Amy looked down at the apple, up at the Doctor, and then glanced at Scarlett's pleading expression.

"Amy. Believe, for twenty minutes," said the Doctor.

Pausing, she raised the car keys and unlocked the door.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"Stop that nurse!"


	3. The Nurse and the Kissogram

**Chapter Three:**

The Doctor set off towards said nurse and Scarlett realised that he was talking about Rory. Lovely, innocent Rory. Rory was one of her best friends; practically a brother, actually. Although to Amy, he was a little bit more than that.

"The Sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog, why?" asked the Doctor when he was just an inch away from him. Rory looked to see Amy as she caught up, and was obviously relieved. "Amy!"

"Hi!" she replied before glancing at the Doctor. "Oh, uh, this is Rory, he's a... friend."

Scarlett frowned, and so did Rory. "Boyfriend," he corrected.

"Kind of boyfriend," nodded Amy.

"Definite boyfriend," Scarlett added.

"Man and a dog; why?" asked the Doctor again, ignoring the conversation from the trio next to him.

"Oh my god, it's him," said Rory, his eyes widening as he took in the Doctor's image.

"Just, answer his question, please," Amy urged.

"It's him though! The Doctor, the Raggedy Doctor!" He then looked at Scarlett as if for confirmation and she nodded in response. "But he was a story, he was a game –" He was then cut off by the Doctor grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "Man and a dog! Why? Tell me, now!"

"Sorry! Because, he can't be there, because, he's –"

"In a hospital, in a coma," finished Rory, along with the Doctor.

Rory just nodded. "Yeah…"

"Knew it. Multiform, you see?" He let go of Rory and brushed his shoulders down. "Disguises itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link, with a living, but dormant mind."

A large ship with a giant eyeball underneath then flew in out of nowhere, hovering over the church, and started to scan. "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver!"

With a large grin, he held up his 'sonic screwdriver' and pressed a button. Suddenly streetlights started exploding, car alarms were set off, and a poor old lady on a mobility scooter started zooming down the street. Even a fire engine started driving itself, its previous owners chasing it down the path.

The man and his dog barked and growled and the Doctor aimed his screwdriver at a telephone box, which exploded with a bang. But then the screwdriver itself exploded, and the Doctor dropped it onto the ground in front of him. "No, no, no! Don't do that!"

The ship above then started to move away and the Doctor yelled to the sky. "Come back! He's here! Prisoner Zero is... here..."

"Doctor!" said Amy suddenly. "The drain, it just... sort of, melted and went down the drain.

"Well, of course it did," said the Doctor, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do we do now?" Scarlett asked.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes, come on... Think. Think!"

* * *

"How can he be real?! He was never real!" asked Rory, continuing his confusion from before while the Doctor fiddled with the English boy's phone. "It was just a game, we were – we were kids, you lot made me dress up as him!"

"These photos, they're all the coma patients," the Doctor noted.

"Yep," agreed Rory.

"No. They're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog, though, there's a dog in a coma?" Scarlett frowned.

It was a little hard for her to imagine, but Scarlett was sure it had most likely happened somewhere at some point in time.

"Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop!" He looked up at the three friends. "Your friend, what was his name? Not him," – he pointed to Rory – "the good-looking one!"

"Thanks," said Rory, clearly offended by the statement.

"Jeff," stated Amy.

"Ohhh, thanks," he repeated, causing Scarlett to reach up and poke his cheek like the annoying best friend that she knew she was, but at least it made him smile a little.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, biiig laptop! I need Jeff's laptop! You two, get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward, clear the floor, and phone me when you're done! Scarlett; you're with me."

He grabbed her hand and tugged her back into the direction of Mrs. Angelo's house before she could even think of responding. They ran up the front path to the house and inside, bursting into Jeff's room quickly.

"Hello! Laptop; gimme," said the Doctor as a way of introduction.

He crossed the room and attempted to prise the laptop away from Jeff, who was trying to cover the screen, and keep it away from the Doctor. "No, no, no, no, no."

"No, it's fine; give it here," said the Doctor.

"Just hold on!"

But the Doctor snatched it from him, and sat down on the edge of the bed – Scarlett plonking herself down next to him – and together, they looked at the screen. Jeff looked over with a frown, as Scarlett's eyes widened along with the Doctor's.

"Blimey," the girl mumbled.

"Get a girlfriend, Jeff," finished the Doctor.

"What are you doing?" asked Jeff, cringing at the awful timing.

"Sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's gonna be a big old video conference call. All the experts in the world, panicking at once, and do you know what they need? _Me._ Ah, and here they all are; all the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"You can't just hack in on a call like that!" he answered.

"Can't I?" he grinned, typing frantically on the laptop. Suddenly six different boxes appeared on the screen with six different people representing six different places.

"Hello!" said the Doctor as the people on screen started to question who he was. "Yeah, I know, you should switch me off, but before you do, watch this."

The Doctor started to type frantically again while explaining the situation. "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never been seen before, poor Fermat got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault; I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie; why electrons have mass, and a personal favourite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a joke." He stopped typing. "Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas; pay attention."

Someone on screen spoke up once more, "Sir! What are you doing?"

"I am writing a computer virus, very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. And why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind. You'll find out. Okay, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, FaceBook, Bebo –," Scarlett cringed at the mere mention of Bebo, "Twitter, radar dish, whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who's your lady friend?" said a man with a glance at Scarlett.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise as the Doctor said, "Patrick, behave."

"What does this virus do?" Scarlett asked.

"Oh, it's a reset command, that's all, it resets counters. It gets in the Wi-Fi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."

There was a pause, as the Doctor waited. Then Scarlett finally turned to Jeff and whispered, "Jeff? I think you're his best man."

"You what?"

The Doctor turned away from the webcam and looked at Jeff. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're gonna be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is gonna be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff, right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?" he asked, clearly baffled. After all, why would he be picked out of everyone to save the world? Why not Scarlett? I mean, she was there, too. "What about Scarlett?" he added, voicing his thoughts.

"It's your bedroom, and I need her with me. Now go, go, go!"

The Doctor got up quickly, and left, leaving Scarlett to wonder if he wanted her to follow him or not. Jeff took the laptop back and said, "Okay guys. Let's do this."

The bedroom door then re-opened suddenly and the Doctor appeared. "Oh. And. Delete your internet history." He waggled a finger at Jeff, leaned down to grab Scarlett's hand again, and dragged her outside again towards a… oh no. _Is that a fire engine?_

* * *

Scarlett's phone rang for the second time that day and the Doctor answered it quickly, knowing it must be Amy. Whatever she said was met with a simple "Look in the mirror."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Scarlett said, taking the phone from him and glaring at him as he looked at her in confusion. "No phones while driving! Don't they teach you that wherever you're from?" She then turned the phone call to speaker so that they could both hear what was happening.

"Are you on your way? You're gonna need a car," Amy spoke again.

"Don't worry!" Scarlett said, "He's commandeered a vehicle."

The Doctor started speeding then, and Scarlett feared he was going to crash the bloody fire engine and kill them both. She hung up the phone as he switched on the siren, causing her to roll her eyes in amusement.

It only took Amy a few more minutes before she called them again.

"Are you in?" Scarlett asked.

"Yep. But so's Prisoner Zero."

"You need to get out of there," said the Doctor.

She didn't reply and Scarlett frowned. There was a rustling sound from Amy's end of the phone, and Scarlett concluded that they must be running. "Amy! Talk to us!" she exclaimed.

"We're in the coma ward, but it's here, it's getting in."

"Which window are you?" asked the Doctor.

"Uh, first floor on the left, fourth from the end."

The Doctor nodded before telling Scarlett to hang up and send them a text instead. She nodded, following his instructions and sending one simple word to her best friends: DUCK!

And that was when the fire engine's ladder crashed through the window to the coma ward and the Doctor and Scarlett climbed up it before leaping into the room, Rory having the chivalry to help his honorary-sister land safely.

"Right! Hello! Are we late? No!" The Doctor looked at the clock, "Three minutes to go. There's still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" asked a woman, holding the hands of two children. Scarlett assumed it was Prisoner Zero in a different form.

"You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave," said the Doctor simply.

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe – don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you? The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know!" said Prisoner Zero in a sing-song voice before returning back to normal. "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

"Look at that," The Doctor raised his hand and pointed to a clock on the wall behind Prisoner Zero, which had reset to 0:00. A small smile spread across Scarlett's lips. She knew he could do it. "Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever, but do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working; Jeff and the world. And, do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word. All over the world; quantum fast. The word is out… And do you know what the word is?"

"Zero," Scarlett said from behind the Doctor with her smile still in place. He turned to look at her with a grin – he was fast becoming quite proud of the people he had met in Leadworth – before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Zero," he repeated. "Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to its source in... what, under a minute? The source, by the way... is right here."

He pulled out Rory's phone just as a white light flashed through the window. "Oh, and I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone. Not me," smirked Prisoner Zero.

"Yeah! But this is the good bit, I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and, being uploaded, about... now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare... Who da man?!" he grinned with his arms outstretched.

Scarlett let out a low groan, Amy gave him a sympathetic smile, and even Prisoner Zero looked unimpressed. Rory had an expression that said _'hey, I think I'll use that sometime'_.

The Doctor sighed, "Oh. Well. I'm just, never saying that again. Fine."

"Then I shall take a new form."

The creature then started to glow orange, and they all stared closely, until suddenly Amy collapsed behind them.

"Amy!" Scarlett yelled.

"Stay awake, Amy!" added the Doctor.

"Doctor!" yelled Rory, pointing at Prisoner Zero who had transformed into… the Doctor.

"Well that's rubbish; who's that supposed to be?" asked the Doctor.

"It's you," Scarlett said.

"Me? Is that what I look like?"

"You don't know?" Rory frowned. Just how crazy was this guy?

"Busy day. Why me, though? You're linked with her! Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not," said Prisoner Zero, and suddenly another figure appeared; young little Amelia Pond, holding the Doctor's hand.

"Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been," snarled Prisoner Zero.

"No, she's dreaming about me because she can hear me," replied the Doctor before joining Scarlett on the ground next to Amy. "Amy. Don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room; the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside, I tried to stop you but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy... dream about what you saw."

"No!" Prisoner Zero started to glow orange again and the Doctor stood up, walking to face it, as it turned into the creature Amy had seen.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself."

_"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."_

"Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall," growled the creature before the Atraxi ship took it away. But even though it was gone, the Doctor still didn't seem satisfied, and pulled out Rory's phone again.

Amy woke up then and Rory moved closer to her immediately. "Amy? Are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" she questioned.

"He did it; the Doctor did it," smiled Rory.

"No, I didn't."

"What are you doing?" Scarlett asked him.

"Tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance," he said to Rory.

"For what?"

"The bill."

Scarlett smirked and Rory shot her a glare as the Doctor started speaking into the phone. "Oi! I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation; this is a fully established level five planet. And you were gonna burn it? What? Did you think no one was watching? You lot. Back here, now."

He threw the phone back to Rory after hanging up and wandered off, saying "Okay, _now_ I've done it."

Scarlett turned to her friends and shrugged before taking off after the raggedy man.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked as she caught up with them.

"The roof! No, hang on." Then he ducked into a cloakroom, and they had no choice but to follow.

The Doctor walked around the cloakroom, picking up the pieces of clothing and holding onto some, flinging the rest over his shoulder. Rory followed, picking up the clothes the Doctor was dropping.

"Is now really the time for you to decide what to wear?" Scarlett asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm saving the world, I need a decent shirt! To hell with the raggedy – time to put on a show!"

Rory sighed. "You've just summoned aliens back to Earth! Actual aliens! Deadly aliens! Aliens... of death, and now you're... taking your clothes off." He was right; the Doctor had started to rip off his own clothes and try on some new articles of clothing. "Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," shrugged the Doctor. He didn't see anything wrong with what he was doing.

The Doctor's shirt came off and Amy and Scarlett watched closely with smirks on their faces.

"Amy, are you not gonna turn your back?" asked Rory.

Amy folded her arms across her chest before shaking her head. "Nope."

"Scarlett?" he asked, hopefully. If his girlfriend wasn't going to look away, then maybe she would.

"Sorry, Rory, but when an attractive man starts taking his clothes off," Scarlett leaned closer to whisper the next part to him. "You don't look away."

* * *

"Come on then! The Doctor will see you now!" said the Doctor as they stepped onto the roof. He was now fully clothed, although he was still deciding between multiple types of ties.

The large eye from earlier that day appeared in the sky again and looked down at him.

"You are not of this world," said the eye.

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." He fiddled about with the new ties, trying to decide which one worked best. "Oh, uhm, I don't know." He held one up to the threesome behind him, "What do you think?" Scarlett gave a shake of her head and he shrugged, throwing the tie and watching it land on Rory's shoulder.

"Is this world important?" the eye asked.

"Important?! What does that mean, important? Six billion people live here, is that important? Here's a better question: is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He started throwing away other ties, and they always managed to hit either Amy or Rory. "Come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

A blue light streamed out of the eye, creating a hologram of a globe.

"No," it decided finally.

"Are the people of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

"No."

"Okay! One more, just one; is this world protected?"

The globe changed to images of things Scarlett couldn't quite comprehend. There were some kind of metal men, some sort of machine with a plunger, and various other monsters. While the images changed, the Doctor continued speaking; "'Cause you're not the first lot to have come here. Oh, there have been _so_ many. And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?"

The images changed for the final time, showing lots of different faces of different men. Scarlett counted ten of them before the Doctor stepped through the hologram and it shut off.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor," he said, "Basically… run."

The Atraxi left immediately, and before anybody could even say how amazing he was and how thankful they were for him, y'know, saving their lives and all, he ran off, leaving them on their own.

* * *

Scarlett's eyes flickered open when she heard a strange noise from outside of Amy's house. Apparently Amy had heard it, too, because she jumped up and pulled her friend up off the ground with her.

"I know that noise," she said as she dragged them outside.

Amy was her nightie, and Scarlett was in sweatpants and a shirt so it wasn't exactly ideal for them to run outside in the middle of the night. They could catch their deaths, after all. But when they did run outside, Scarlett realised why they were there. Because the blue box was there again, with the Doctor leaning against it as if it were just an everyday occurrence, which for him, it probably was.

"It's you…" Scarlett said, "You came back."

"Course I came back. I always come back. Something wrong with that?" he replied.

"And you kept the clothes?" asked Amy as they reached the blue box.

"Well, I just saved the world; the whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge, yeah. Shoot me. I kept the clothes."

"Including the bow-tie," Amy said incredulously.

"Yeah. It's cool. Bow-ties are cool," he said defensively.

Scarlett shrugged. Bow-ties_ were_ pretty cool.

"Are you from another planet?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said nonchalantly. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?" asked Amy.

"Other planets, wanna check some out?"

"What does that mean?" Scarlett inquired.

"It means, well, it means... come with me."

Scarlett's heart leaped. She could do it. She could leave her boring life behind and travel with him. She didn't have much for her there; her parents, yes. An older brother, too, but they all had their own lives while she was stuck with a boring job in a café with not even a dog to keep her company.

"Where?"

"Wherever you like."

Amy looked up at his blue box and said, "All that stuff that happened, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero –"

"Oh, don't worry, that's just the beginning, there's loads more," the Doctor grinned.

"Yeah, but those things, those... amazing things, all that stuff," she continued before glancing at Scarlett. She nodded slightly before stepping closer to the man so that her face was an inch away from the Doctor's.

"That was _two years_ ago!" she snapped.

"Oh… Oops."

"Yeah!" she said.

"So that's…"

"Fourteen years!" added Amy.

"Fourteen years," he nodded.

"When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and that the swimming pool was _in_ the library."

Scarlett nodded along. She had heard this story many times before to know all the ins and outs.

"Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now, it'll turn up! So! Coming?" asked the Doctor again.

"No," said Amy, shaking her head.

_Oh please don't mess this up for the both of us, _Scarlett thought.

"You wanted to come fourteen years ago."

"I grew up."

"Don't worry. I'll soon fix that."

With a snap of his fingers the door to the blue box opened and an orange glow spilled out. Amy looked at Scarlett, who just shrugged with a small laugh before stepping inside. The pair followed her and the Doctor looked very smug as Amy and Scarlett stared around, wide-eyed.

"Well? Anything you wanna say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all."

"Why blue?" Scarlett asked.

"What?" he replied, clearly confused. These girls were in a machine that could travel through time and space, and they're focusing on the _colour_?

"Why don't you mix it up a bit?"

"Yeah, you could paint it orange on Halloween," said Amy.

"And red on Christmas," Scarlett agreed.

"Right, well… I've never heard that one before."

_Good, _Scarlett smirked, _that was my intention._

"We're in our pyjamas," said Amy suddenly.

"Oh, don't worry! Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe and, possibly, a swimming pool. So! All of time, and space; everything that ever happened, or ever will… Where do you wanna start?"

"You are so sure that we're coming," Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Cause you're the Scottish girl, in the English village, and I know how that feels. All these years living here, most of your life and you've still got that accent. And you," he gestured towards Scarlett, "A young girl in an old village that doesn't really have much to offer her. You're bored and you want some excitement in your life and I can provide that for you. So yes, you're both coming."

"Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?" asked Amy as she leaned against the rails.

"It's a time machine. I can get you back for five minutes ago. Why? What's tomorrow?" he asked.

"It's her wed –" Scarlett started before Amy cut her off.

"Nothing. Nothing! Just, you know. Stuff."

"Alright then. Back in time for 'stuff'," the Doctor agreed. He'd find out why tomorrow was so important later.

Something then rose up from the console of the machine – which Scarlett found out was called the TARDIS – and he took it gleefully. "Oh, a new screwdriver! Lovely! Thanks dear." He had whispered the last part but Scarlett heard it, and smiled slightly at his affection towards the box.

"Why us?" Amy asked.

The Doctor couldn't help but think that the girl was full of too many questions at a time like this. "Been knocking around on my own for a while, my choice, but I've started talking to myself, all the time, it's giving me earache."

"You're lonely," Scarlett said, "That's it; just that."

"Just that. Promise," he nodded.

"Okay," agreed Amy and Scarlett's smile grew wider.

"So you're both okay then? 'Cause this place. Sometimes it can make people feel a bit... you know."

"I'm fine. Scarlett's fine. It's just… everything you said. It's all true. We'd started to think that maybe you were just like a… madman with a box."

"Amy Pond, Scarlett Watkins, there's something you better understand about me, 'cause it's important, and one day, your lives may depend on it," they both leaned closer as he continued, "I am definitely a madman with a box."

He grinned broadly which caused Scarlett to laugh, setting the others off, too.

"Ha yes!" he smiled while flicking switches on the TARDIS console. "Goodbye, Leadworth! Hello... everything!"

He pulled down a lever, and they all clung to the console as the TARDIS began to dematerialise, their laughter continuing. Eventually the TARDIS disappeared, completely, from Amy Pond's garden.

* * *

**A/N: So! I want to thank you for getting this far, I know this chapter was pretty long. If there are any episodes you would really like me to include in this then please let me know and I'll do my best. I'm planning on skipping The Beast Below and going straight on to Victory of the Daleks if that's alright with everyone? Anyway, thank you again, and I'll see you soon! x**


	4. Ironsides

**Chapter Four:**

"So we just saved a star whale and now we're going to meet _Winston Churchill_?" Scarlett asked as the Doctor hung up the phone, after speaking to the man himself.

"Yep, says he needs my help and who am I to deny him of that?"

The Doctor grinned at both Amy and Scarlett as the TARDIS landed. "Looks like we're here," he said, striding over to the doors and stepping out into wherever Churchill had summoned him this time. Amy and Scarlett followed him out just in time to see soldiers surrounding the TARDIS with guns pointing straight at them.

"Lovely welcome," Scarlett stated.

The soldiers then parted, but not because of her words, oh no, it was because Winston Churchill had just stepped into the room.

"Scarlett, Amy," said the Doctor, gesturing towards Churchill, "Winston Churchill."

"Doctor? Is it you?" said the man.

"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" He tried to shake hands but Churchill motioned with his instead, almost as if he wanted something. "Ah, every time!"

"What's he after?" asked Amy.

"TARDIS key, of course," said the Doctor matter-of-factly. That wasn't the first time he had tried to get it from him.

"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, Doctor! The lives that could be saved!"

"Ah, doesn't work like that," said the Doctor as he shut the TARDIS door.

"Must I take it by force?" said Churchill in a joking manner, though some truth lay underneath.

"I'd like to see you try."

"At ease," ordered Churchill and his soldiers lowered their guns, much to Scarlett's relief.

"So," smiled the Doctor, "you rang?"

* * *

As they strode through the corridor, they heard an air raid occur from above. Just the thought gave Scarlett shivers.

"You've changed your face again," stated Churchill causing Scarlett to furrow her eyebrows.

How can someone just change their face? Well, except for using plastic surgery but something told her the Doctor wasn't a fan of that type of thing.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done," shrugged the Doctor.

"You're late, by the way," said Churchill. He started to say more, but paused when a woman walked over to speak with him.

"Late?" Scarlett asked.

"I rang him a month ago."

"Really? Sorry. Sorry, it's a Type 40 TARDIS. I'm just running her in," he apologised.

Amy gazed around in awe but Scarlett's eyes were focused on the woman in front of her.

"Are you alright? You seem… sad," she said to her.

"Yes, ma'am. Fine, ma'am," she replied with a forced smile.

_Ma'am? _Scarlett thought. _I could get used to that._

"Action this day, Breen! Action this day!" said Churchill in an attempt to cheer her up. She nodded briefly before walking off. "Now," he spoke again, "coming, Doctor?"

"Why?" inquired the Doctor.

"I have something to show you."

* * *

They stepped out of a lift at Churchill's instructions when he said; "Follow me."

He took them to the rooftop (of all places), and they stepped carefully over the sandbags. A man in a white coat was watching the sky with binoculars and was introduced to them as Professor Edwin Bracewell.

"How do you do?" the man smiled as a formation of German planes started approaching and they all watched with a frown.

"Doctor, it's…" Scarlett started.

"History," he finished.

"Ready, Bracewell?" asked Churchill.

"Aye aye, sir," he responded. "On my order! Fire!"

From within a sandbagged area, laser beams appeared and were fired at the German planes, destroying them completely.

"What was that?" Amy asked, baffled. She'd never seen anything like it.

"That wasn't human, that was never human technology," said the Doctor, mainly to himself. He was getting more worried by the second. "That sounded like... Show me! Show me what that was!" He turned and climbed the ladder quickly so that he could stand next to Bracewell.

"Advance!" yelled Bracewell.

"Our new secret weapon," added Churchill, beaming with pride.

Amy and Scarlett watched as a machine slid into view. It was painted in Army khaki, a utility belt around it, a small Union Flag under the eyestalk and the lights on the top of its dome were covered. It looked familiar to Scarlett, and she knew she had seen one of those before. But the Doctor recognised it immediately. He was all too familiar with those particular creatures.

"What do you think? Quite something, eh?" Churchill grinned.

"What are you doing here?" asked the Doctor roughly.

Scarlett climbed up the ladder and Amy followed.

"I am your soldier," said the machine, its voice robotic.

"What?"

"I am your soldier," it repeated.

"Stop this," snapped the Doctor. "Stop now! You know who I am, you _always _know."

"Your identity is unknown," it said.

"Perhaps I can clarify things here," said Bracewell, stepping forward. "This is one of my Ironsides."

"Your what?" Scarlett asked. She had never heard of an 'Ironside' before.

The man then turned to said 'Ironside'.

"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" he questioned.

"Yes," it answered.

"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"

"Yes." Its voice sounded scratchy and quite frankly, Scarlett hated it.

"And what is your ultimate aim?" Bracewell asked.

"To win the war!"

* * *

Back in the Cabinet War rooms, the Doctor was searching through Bracewell's diagrams and blueprints of his so-called Ironsides.

"They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!" stated the Doctor. He didn't know how the Daleks got there or what their plan was, but he would do everything in his power to stop them.

"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look! Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He invented them!" Churchill gestured to the blueprints.

"Invented them?" the Doctor scoffed, "Oh, no, no, no!"

"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius."

"A Scottish genius, too," grinned Amy, "Maybe you should listen to –"

"Shh! He didn't invent them! They're alien," the Doctor stated, not wanting to listen to any excuses.

Scarlett believed him. Why shouldn't she? He was speaking with such urgency that she highly doubted he was lying, and after all, he did save their lives with the whole Prisoner Zero fiasco. She thought they kind of owed him one.

"Alien?" asked Churchill.

That was when an Ironside – or a Dalek, Scarlett personally wasn't too sure what to call them – glided into the room, earning a glare from the Doctor.

"And totally hostile," he frowned.

"Precisely," started Churchill, turning over a page to show them a propaganda poster with an Ironside printed onto it. "And they will win me the war."

"Why won't you listen? Why call me in if you won't listen to me?!"

"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true."

"Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!" begged the Doctor.

"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!" Churchill bellowed.

"I am imagining," the Doctor mumbled before turning to Amy and Scarlett. "One of you, tell him."

"Tell him what?" asked Amy.

"About the Daleks."

"What would I know about the Daleks?" frowned Amy.

"Everything. They invaded your world, remember? Planets in the sky, you don't forget that! Tell me you remember the Daleks."

"I do," Scarlett said, causing their gazes to turn to her. "When I saw it out there, I couldn't place it but now that you say that, Doctor, I remember. Amy, you should, too. You were with me the day the Daleks invaded. You were with Rory and me."

Amy shook her head, "Nope, sorry."

"That's not possible," said the Doctor, looking carefully at the Scottish girl.

* * *

"So they're up to something, but what is it? What are they after?" said the Doctor – mostly to himself – as they entered the map room where women were manning the radios and moving figures on the map as required.

"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" said Amy, making her way over to a Dalek in the corner.

"Amy!" Scarlett yelled, just as the Doctor said "Amelia!"

They watched as Amy tapped on the Dalek's casing and it swivelled round to look at her.

"Can I be of assistance?" it asked in that annoying mechanical voice.

"Oh. Yes. Yes! See, my friends reckon you're dangerous; that you're an alien. Is it true?"

_Does she really think she's going to get an honest answer like that? _Scarlett thought.

"I am your soldier," it stated, just like it had earlier.

"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?" Amy continued.

"Please excuse me. I have duties to perform."

"Winston, please," begged the Doctor once more, turning to the man next to them.

"We are waging total war, Doctor! Day after day, the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist. Men, women and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames."

"Yeah? Try the Earth in flames!" said the Doctor, trying to push away the image building in his mind.

"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart," replied the Prime Minister.

"But you're resisting, Winston! The whole world knows you're resisting! You're a beacon of hope."

Churchill started signing papers as he listened. "But for how long? Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!"

That was when the Dalek Amy had spoken to moved up to them. "Can I be of assistance?"

"Shut it!" yelled the Doctor before turning to Churchill once more. "Listen to me. Just listen! The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are my oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!"

_Please just listen to him, _Scarlett willed.

"If Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil! These machines are our salvation!" He paused as a siren was heard from above, "Oh, the all-clear. We are safe. For now," And then he departed.

"Doctor, are you okay?" Scarlett asked as he stared at the Dalek in the room.

"What does hate look like to you?" he asked as Amy joined them.

"Hate?" she questioned.

"It looks like a Dalek," he answered. "And I'm going to prove it."

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I'm so good with updating recently aren't I? Wow. Anyway, yesterday I posted Chapter 3 and named it 'The Nurse and the Kissogram', just because I thought it was a catchy title. Then I watched The Hungry Earth and Rory calls himself and Amy 'The Nurse and the Kissogram'. I just found this weird and awesome at the same time and I don't know, I'll be shutting up now. See you soon! x**


	5. Bloody Jammie Dodgers

**Chapter Five:**

"All right, Prof! The PM's been filling me in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them," said the Doctor to Bracewell. He wasn't giving up anytime soon.

"Just doing my bit," shrugged Bracewell.

"Not bad for a Paisley boy," commented Amy as Scarlett took a seat and the Doctor searched through files that were littered over the desk.

"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear," Bracewell smiled.

"How did you do it?" Scarlett asked from her seat. "Come up with the idea?"

"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?" he replied vaguely.

"But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?" asked the Doctor, throwing the files back onto the desk.

"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that could sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!"

"And are these your ideas or theirs?" pressed the Doctor. There was no way a man as ordinary as he could come up with ideas like that.

"No, no, no, no. These robots are entirely under my control, Doctor. They are –" he paused to take a cup of tea from a passing Dalek. "Thank you… the perfect servant, and the perfect warrior."

"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they've promised, you cannot trust them! Call them what you like, the Daleks are death!"

Scarlett span on her chair as the argument continued. "Yes, Doctor. Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!"

"Yes, and death to everyone else too!" frowned the Doctor.

Scarlett stopped her movements when a Dalek slid up to the Doctor. Very bad move.

"Would you care for some tea?" it asked.

The Doctor turned, hit the tray and cup, and caused them to fall to the floor with a loud clatter. "Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"We seek only to help you," it replied.

"To do what?"

"To win the war."

"Really? Which war?" asked the Doctor.

"I do not understand."

"This war against the Nazis? Or your war; the war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life-forms that are not Dalek?"

"I do not understand," started the Dalek. "I am your soldier."

"Oh, yeah? Okay." The Doctor turned around and picked up a giant spanner, causing Scarlett to raise her eyebrows and think; _what the bloody hell is he going to do with that?_ "Okay, soldier, defend yourself!" Scarlett jumped out of her seat as the Doctor started hitting the Dalek repeatedly with the spanner.

"Doctor, stop!" Amy yelled.

"You do not require tea?" said the Dalek.

The Doctor ignored everything and kept striking the machine in front of him. "Come on! Fight back! You want to, don't you? You know you do!"

"Doctor!" Scarlett tried, taking a step closer to him hesitantly.

"I must protest!" said Bracewell. He hated to see his creation treated in such a way.

"What are you waiting for? You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me. Kill me!" The Doctor exclaimed, his voice getting louder with every word.

"Doctor, be careful!" Scarlett shouted, pushing him back gently.

"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier," said the Dalek in its stupid voice.

"You are my enemy!" The Doctor yelled, punctuating his sentence with hits. "And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!" He ended his rant with a kick, sending the Dalek backwards.

Scarlett eyes were wide, as were Amy's. Neither of them had ever seen the Doctor that angry and quite frankly, it scared them.

It was silent until the Dalek spoke again, "Correct. Review testimony."

Then they heard the Doctor's voice again, coming out of the Dalek. "'I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!'"

"What do they mean; testimony?" Scarlett asked.

"Transmitting testimony now," bleated the Dalek.

"Transmit what, where?" asked the Doctor.

"Testimony accepted!" it yelled.

The Doctor threw his arm out, giving Scarlett a small push back. She then bumped into Amy, who grabbed her arm in return. "Get back! All of you!"

"Marines! Marines! Get in here!" yelled Churchill, who had entered the room and seen it all.

Two Marines entered on command and one of the Daleks killed them without hesitation.

"Stop it! Stop it, please! What are you doing?" Bracewell turned to the Daleks, "You are my Ironsides!"

"We are the Daleks!"

This was one of the times when Scarlett actually wanted the Doctor to be wrong but as always, that just wasn't the case.

"But I created you!" urged Bracewell.

"No," the Dalek started, shooting off Bracewell's hand to reveal a stump of wires and circuits. "_We_ created _you_!"

"Victory! Victory! Victory!" yelled another Dalek, before the two of them disappeared completely.

During the whole ordeal, Amy's grip on Scarlett's arm had been tightening and by now, she was starting to wince at the impact.

"What just happened, Doctor?" asked Amy with a shake in her voice.

"I wanted to know what they wanted, what their plan was…_ I_ was their plan!" The Doctor then ran out of the room, saying nothing more.

* * *

They followed the Doctor into the storage room where the TARDIS was left as he continued to talk. "Testimony accepted!' That's what they said! _My_ testimony."

"Don't beat yourself up. You were right, the pair of you," said Amy. "What do we do? Is this what we do now? Chase after them?"

"This is what _I_ do. It's dangerous, so wait here," he told her.

"What, so you mean we've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the _London Blitz_?" she retorted.

"Safe as it gets around me," he replied honestly. They may not know it yet but travelling with him could get dangerous. Very dangerous. And he made a promise to himself after the Atraxi incident that he would do everything he could to make sure they remain safe while in his company.

Scarlett watched as Amy left the room, having absolutely no intentions of following her.

"Let me come with you," she said to the Doctor.

"Not a chance."

"Why?"

"I want you to stay safe so you're staying here."

"I'd rather come with you than stay down here. I can't stand it…" she started as another siren went off, sending shivers down her spine. "Especially the noises."

The Doctor paused for a moment as he watched the brunette before pushing open the TARDIS door with a sigh, "Fine. In you get."

She flashed him a small, grateful smile before entering the TARDIS and taking a seat next to the console.

The Doctor started to work the controls before checking the monitor.

"Bingo!"

* * *

The pair waited until the TARDIS had landed before making their way towards the door. The Doctor stopped his strides so abruptly that Scarlett walked straight into his back. "Oh for the love of…" she groaned, rubbing her nose with a frown. The Doctor turned round slightly and mumbled a quick "Just stay behind me," before opening the doors and stepping outside.

"How about that cuppa now, then?" said the Doctor, making their presence known.

"It is the Doctor! Exterminate!" yelled the Dalek that the Doctor had hit previously.

"Wait, wait, wait, I wouldn't if I were you!" said the Doctor, pulling out a small round object and holding it out in front of him, all while making sure he stayed in front of Scarlett. "TARDIS self-destruct. And you know what that means. My ship goes, you all go with it." When Scarlett took a second glance she realised that what he was holding was most definitely not the TARDIS self-destruct button… It was a bloody Jammie Dodger.

"You would not use such a device," said the Dalek.

"Try me. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. No scans! No nothing!" The Doctor frowned as another Dalek started to move forward. "One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang-bang, Daleks boom!" The Dalek moved back. "Good boy. This ship's pretty beaten up – running on empty, I'd say, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished."

"One ship survived," said the second Dalek.

"And you fell back through time, yes? Crippled? Dying?"

"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices," it replied.

"What's that when it's at home?" Scarlett asked, causing the Doctor to widen his eyes at her.

_Yep, probably should've stayed quiet, _she scolded herself.

"It is our past. And our future," said the Dalek simply.

"Ohhh, that's deep. That is deep for a Dalek," nodded the Doctor. "What does it mean, though?"

Another Dalek slid up. "It contains pure Dalek DNA, thousands were created, all were lost, save one."

"OK, but there's still one thing I don't get, though – if you've got the Progenitor, why build Bracewell?"

"It was... necessary," the second Dalek said.

"I get it. Oh, I get it! I get it. Oh, ho, this is rich! The Progenitor wouldn't recognise you, would it? It saw you as impure; the DNA is unrecognisable as Dalek."

"A solution was devised," spoke the Dalek.

"Yes, yes, yes. Me. My testimony," said the Doctor, sounding bored. "So you set a trap, you knew that the Progenitor would recognise me. The Dalek's greatest enemy! It would accept my word. My recognition of you." The second Dalek turns to the instrument panel behind it. "No, no, no. What are you doing?"

"Withdraw now, Doctor, or the city dies in flames."

The Doctor held out his left hand – the other still holding that damned Jammie Dodger –and Scarlett took it carefully, giving it a small squeeze to let him know she was still there.

"Who are you kidding? This ship is a wreck; you don't have the power to destroy London," scoffed the Doctor.

"Watch as the humans destroy themselves."

A screen flickered to life behind the Daleks to show London in darkness as they did their best to avoid the Germans. But then lights everywhere started to come to life, practically egging the Germans on.

"Turn those lights off now. Turn London off or I swear I will use the TARDIS self-destruct!" the Doctor yelled.

"Stalemate, Doctor," croaked a Dalek. "Leave us, and return to Earth."

"Oh, that's it? That's your great victory? You leave?"

"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again."

"No, no, no! I won't let you get away this time! I won't!"

The Doctor took a small step forward, bringing Scarlett along with him.

"We have succeeded – DNA reconstruction is complete," said another Dalek.

The Daleks slid back from the cubicle and the doors split open amidst sparks.

"Observe, Doctor, a new Dalek paradigm!"

The Doctor and Scarlett watched as new, larger Daleks emerged from the smoke and steam, each one a different colour: white, blue, yellow, orange and red. Scarlett stepped up to stand next to the Doctor and his hand tightened around hers.

"The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny," said a Dalek. "Behold the restoration of the Daleks! The resurrection of the master race!"


	6. Dorabella and the Ash Trees

**Chapter Six:**

And there Scarlett was; in a spaceship with the Doctor while he faced his greatest enemies. She could tell he was afraid but he was doing a pretty good job at hiding it.

"All hail the new Daleks! All hail the new Daleks!" screeched the army Daleks.

"You are inferior! Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!" said the white Dalek before two of its colourful henchmen – or henchdaleks in this case – shot their khaki covered copies.

"Blimey, what do you do to the ones who mess up?" asked the Doctor sarcastically.

_Ah, I couldn't be more proud of him, _Scarlett smiled.

"You are the Doctor! You must be exterminated!" the white Dalek spoke again, causing Scarlett to grip the Doctor's hand tightly in fear and for her smile to drop. But he wasn't fazed. Instead, he just held up the _'TARDIS self-destruct button' _and said "Don't mess with me, sweetheart!"

"We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race," said the pasty Dalek who was clearly the leader in all of this. "Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal, and the Supreme."

"Which would be you, I'm guessing? Well, you know, nice paint job. I'd be feeling pretty swish if I looked like you. Pretty supreme," commented the Doctor. "Question is; what do we do now? Either you turn off your clever machine or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity."

"Including yourself and your companion," bleated the Dalek.

"Occupational hazard," Scarlett said; eyeing up the blue Dalek that definitely looked like it was up to something… other than trying to kill planet Earth, obviously.

"Scan reveals nothing! TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!" said the blue Dalek.

So it _was _up to something.

"Alright!" said the Doctor, lifting the Jammie Dodger to his mouth and taking a bite. "It's a Jammie Dodger, but I was promised tea!"

A siren sounded overhead and the blue Dalek slid over to a screen to inspect it. "Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching!" It paused, "Correction; multiple projectiles!"

"What have the humans done?" asked the white Dalek. If it had a face, Scarlett was pretty sure it would've looked livid.

"I don't know," said the Doctor honestly.

"Explain! Explain! Explain!"

Then another voice was heard. But it didn't belong to the Doctor, the Daleks, or even Scarlett.

_"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."_

"Oh, Winston, you beauty!" yelled the Doctor, smiling in victory.

_"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Come in. Over."_

"Loud and clear, Danny Boy! Big dish, side of the ship; blow it up! Over!"

"Exterminate the Doctor!" said the 'Supreme'.

Scarlett's eyes widened and she felt, rather than saw, the Doctor tug on her hand as they ran back to the TARDIS once the Daleks started to fire.

Once in the safety of his blue box, she let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, the familiarity of the time machine being somewhat comforting.

The Doctor raced over to the console and Scarlett followed him, hearing the voice once more. _"Danny Boy to the Doctor... only me left now." _Scarlett frowned. Yeah, sure, they were still winning and they would've been in the middle of the London Blitz anyway, but the thought of the other pilots being murdered – especially by the Daleks – sent a chill down her spine. _"Anything you can do, sir?"_

The Doctor picked up a small microphone and spoke into it. "The Doctor to Danny Boy, the Doctor to Danny Boy. I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over."

_"Good show, Doctor, go to it. Over."_

Scarlett watched as the Doctor ran around the TARDIS, frantically flicking switches and pulling levers. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she realised how useless she was being by just standing there.

_"Danny Boy to the Doctor... going in for another attack."_

"The Doctor to Danny Boy, the Doctor to Danny Boy. Destroy this ship! Over."

_"What about you and Miss Watkins, Doctor?"_

"We'll be okay," Scarlett said, the Doctor giving her a small smile in return.

The conversation ended up abruptly as the ever-persistent white Dalek appeared on screen.

"Doctor! Call off your attack," it said.

"Ah-ha, what? And let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!" replied the Doctor.

"Call off the attack, or we will destroy the Earth," the Dalek threatened.

"I'm not stupid, mate! You've just played your last card!" he replied confidently.

"Bracewell is a bomb," it stated simply.

Scarlett was surprised she hadn't drawn blood yet with the ferocity she was biting her lip at. Bracewell couldn't be a bomb. He was a living, breathing, human being… Wasn't he?

"You're bluffing. Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body," the Doctor paused, "There isn't a_ bone_ in your body."

"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum! Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."

Now Scarlett had no clue what an Oblivion Continuum was, but judging by the expression on the Doctor's face, it was bad. Very bad.

"No!" snapped the Doctor. "This is my best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!"

"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"

Scarlett shuddered. How can someone – or some_thing_ – be so heartless?

"And if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks."

Scarlett placed her hand on the Doctor's arm. She wasn't sure why. She knew it wasn't going to make him feel any better about his decision but she guessed it was just to let him know that she was there. And he seemed to appreciate it because he glanced at her gratefully.

"Then choose, Doctor! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!"

In that moment, Scarlett learned why the Doctor hated those vile things so much. They cared about nothing but themselves and would stop at nothing to get the power they thought they deserved. For God's sake, they even killed two of their own kind out there.

"Doctor…" Scarlett said, "It's okay. We both know what you have to do."

And it was true. They both knew that he was going to do what he always does; save the Earth.

He nodded almost faintly before picking up the microphone again.

"The Doctor to Danny Boy, the Doctor to Danny Boy. Withdraw."

_"Say again, Sir. Over."_

"Withdraw! Return to Earth. Over and out."

_"But Sir –"_

"There's no time, you have to return to Earth now! Over!"

Then he pulled a lever down, and sent them both travelling back to Earth.

* * *

The Doctor and Scarlett ran in and before anyone could even think of saying a word, he punched Bracewell in the jaw, knocking him straight to the ground.

"Doctor!" yelled Amy as he shook his hand out in pain.

"We're sorry, Professor, but you're a bomb!" Scarlett explained.

"An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb," added the Doctor.

"What?" asked Bracewell.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you - a captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension! Now keep down!" The Doctor knelt down next to Bracewell, opening his shirt and using his sonic to reveal mechanics underneath.

There was a circular pad divided into sections glowing blue on Bracewell's chest. The first section turned yellow.

"Well?" asked Amy.

"I don't know!" said the Doctor, "Never seen one up close before!"

"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?"

"Not wired him up! He is a bomb. Walking, talking –" he paused to make an exploding sound – "exploding. The moment that flashes red."

"There's... a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire! Or a red one…" Amy tried desperately.

"You're not helping!" said the Doctor. "Bracewell, tell me about your life! Tell me and prove you're human. Tell me everything."

One section of Bracewell's chest was red and the second was yellow.

"My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but... but there was a storm."

The Doctor tried to hurry him along, "And your parents? Come on! Tell me!"

"Good people. Kind people. They... They died. Scarlet fever."

"What was that like? How did it feel? How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me! Tell me now!"

"It hurt. It hurts, Doctor, so badly. Like a wound," he frowned. The second section turned red and the third was yellow. "It was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."

"Good. Remember it now, Edwin! The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad and losing them and men in the trenches you saw die... Remember it! Feel it, because you're human!" The third section was red now. "You're not like them. You are not like the Daleks!"

"It hurts! Doctor, it hurts so much!"

"Good! Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it," said the Doctor. "That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb, you're a human being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a human being!"

But it wasn't stopping the Daleks. The fifth section was red now.

"It's not working, I can't stop it!"

Scarlett paused. She had to do something, didn't she? Thinking about his home didn't work; neither did the thought of his parents. What else was there?

And then she had it.

Quickly, Scarlett knelt down on the opposite side of Bracewell. "Hey Paisley," she said, using the nickname Amy had given him, "Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

Bracewell looked utterly confused, "W-What?"

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she continued, "But kind of a good hurt."

"I really shouldn't talk about her," he replied.

"Ooh, there's a her," smiled Amy, helping Scarlett along.

"What was her name?" asked the Doctor.

"Dorabella."

"Dorabella? That's a lovely name. It's a beautiful name," the Doctor smiled.

"What was she like, Edwin?" Scarlett asked.

"Oh... Such a smile. And her eyes. Her eyes were so blue. Almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world. Dorabella…"

They then watched as the colours on Edwin's chest faded and the bomb was disarmed.

"Welcome to the human race," Scarlett smiled.

"You're brilliant, you're brilliant, you're brilliant," the Doctor said, pointing to Churchill, Bracewell, and Amy before turning to the youngest of the group. "And you!" He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead before standing up quickly. "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!"

"Wait! Doctor! Wait," The Doctor stopped as Bracewell spoke. "It's too late. Gone. They've gone."

"No, no, no! They can't! They can't have got away from me again!"

"No, I can feel it, my mind is clear. The Daleks have gone," he confirmed.

The Doctor leaned against a pole in the room, like all his energy had suddenly been drained.

"Doctor, it's okay! You did it. You stopped the bomb," grinned Amy.

"I had a choice. And they knew I'd choose the Earth. The Daleks have won. They beat me. They've won," mumbled the Doctor, mainly to himself.

"But you saved the Earth! Not too shabby, is it?" she tried.

"Is it?" Scarlett asked.

"No," he answered, a small smile spreading across his lips. "It's not too shabby."

* * *

"Stay with us, and help us win through! The world needs you," said Churchill as they all started to say their goodbyes.

"The world doesn't need me," said the Doctor.

"No?"

"The world has Winston Spencer Churchill," he smiled, making the V for Victory sign.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, shall we say adieu?" asked the Doctor as the two men hugged.

"Indeed," Churchill replied. "Goodbye, Miss Watkins. Miss Pond."

"It's been amazing. Meeting you," said Amy as Scarlett nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure it has!" he grinned before turning to leave.

"Oi! Churchill!" Scarlett said and he looked round expectantly. Raising her eyebrows with a grin, she held out her hand, "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."

The Doctor nearly choked on his tea and quickly patted his pocket, looking for said key.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin!" smiled the Prime Minister, handing Scarlett the key, "Almost as sharp as me!" He walked to the door and yelled back as he left, "KBO!"

The Doctor turned to Scarlett, holding out his hand until she rolled her eyes and gave him back the key.

_Pfft, as if I would steal it from him, _Scarlett thought grumpily.

* * *

"I've been expecting you, Doctor. I knew this moment had to come," said Bracewell as they entered his office before taking their leave.

"Moment?" he asked.

"It's time to de-activate me," the man sighed, "You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business."

"No, you're dead right, Professor. 100% right. And by the time I get back here in... What, ten minutes?"

"More like fifteen," shrugged Amy.

"Fifteen minutes, yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so de-activated. It's going be like you've never even been... activated."

Scarlett fought the urge to laugh. He was such a bad liar.

"Fifteen minutes?" Bracewell asked.

"More like twenty, if I'm honest. Once the girls and I see to the urgent thing… we've got to see to. The… the… See?"

"Very well, Doctor. I shall wait here and prepare myself."

"That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," Scarlett mumbled to both the Doctor and Amy before speaking up again. "That thing we've got to do. Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor?"

"Easily! So no running off, that's what I'm saying. Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl... What was her name?"

"Dorabella," he answered.

"Dorabella. On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour."

Bracewell smiled and laughed once he realised what they were doing and turned to start packing a suitcase.

"Thank you, thank you, Doctor!"

"Come along, constables," said the Doctor as they made their way back to the TARDIS.

"Constables?" Scarlett asked.

"When I came back, you two pretended to be policewomen. Or have you forgotten?" he asked.

Scarlett let out a small laugh as Amy blushed. It was her idea, after all.

"So, you have enemies then?" Amy said, trying to change the subject.

"Everyone's got enemies."

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell and Scarlett's is the annoying man that works at Tesco, although to be fair, he doesn't even know she hates him. You've got, like, you know, _arch-enemies_."

"Suppose so."

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous," sighed Amy.

"Yep. Very. Is that a problem?" asked the Doctor.

"We're still here, aren't we?" Scarlett smiled slightly. "You're worried about the Daleks."

"I'm always worried about the Daleks," he admitted.

"It'll take time, though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up," Amy said, trying her best to make him feel better.

"It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have," he gestured towards Amy.

"Me?" she frowned.

"You didn't know them, Amy. You'd never seen them before. Scarlett had, and you should have, too. You should have."

The Doctor entered the TARDIS then, leaving Scarlett and a confused Amy to follow.


	7. Blue Books and Home Boxes

**Chapter Seven:**

"Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong," said the Doctor as he strode through some boring old place he dragged Amy and Scarlett to. It looked like it was based on the plans of a medieval church and while the girls were bored out of their minds; the Doctor seemed to be enjoying himself. "I love museums!"

Amy and Scarlett dragged behind him, communicating solely through eye rolling and the occasional sigh.

"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship, Churchill's bunker; you promised us a planet next," whined Amy.

"Excuse me, but this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delirium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever!" the Doctor smiled, as if it were the most exciting thing in the universe.

"You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?" Scarlett asked as he continued to bounce around the room, pointing at various objects.

"Wrong! Very wrong! Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine," He stopped to peer into a display case, and Amy and Scarlett shared another sigh.

"Oh, I see. It's how you keep score," Scarlett stated.

Something in the next display case caught the Doctor's eye and he wandered over to that instead, like a moth to a flame. Following him, Scarlett leaned on top of the glass case and looked at the object inside. It was a worn-out box with a bunch of strange symbols written on it.

"Oh great, an old box," said Amy as she stood next to her friend.

"It's from one of the old star liners. A Home Box," explained the Doctor.

"What's a Home Box?" Scarlett asked.

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data."

"So?"

"The writing, the graffiti… Old High Gallifreyan; the lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple Gods."

Amy and Scarlett leaned forward as they listened. _Now_ it was starting to sound interesting.

"So, what does it say?" Scarlett asked.

He paused for a moment before sighing in defeat.

"Hello, sweetie."

* * *

Alarm bells rang as the Doctor ran through the museum, the home box tucked under his arm. Amy and Scarlett ran alongside him – I mean, what choice did they have? They either run or get arrested for something the Doctor did – before bursting into the TARDIS.

Immediately the Doctor started to hook the home box up to the console as Amy and Scarlett tried to catch their breath.

"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked as they stood on either side of him, Scarlett clutching her stomach and Amy bent over slightly with her hands on her knees.

"Because someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working."

A grainy black and white video appeared on the monitor in front of them. A woman with curled blonde hair tilted down her sunglasses and winked at the camera before moving on.

_"The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're on board,"_ said a man on screen.

_"Sorry, Alistair, I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something; this ship won't reach its destination,"_ she replied coolly.

_"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution," _said Alistair to the men – who Scarlett guessed were the guards – standing behind him.

The woman – supposedly 'Doctor Song' – glanced at her watch before saying _"Triple seven, five, slash three, four, nine by ten, zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor," _she adjusted her hair.

The Doctor nodded to himself before starting to type on his keyboard.

"What was that, what did she say?" Scarlett asked, now recovered from the most exercise she's done in about 10 years.

"Co-ordinates!" the Doctor grinned.

Amy and Scarlett shared a look as the woman continued to speak.

_"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!"_

Scarlett shook her head in amusement. She had to give her some points for that line... Classic.

The Doctor let out a small "whoop" before running to open the TARDIS doors. He reached out and pulled Doctor Song in and they both landed on the floor.

"Doctor?" said Amy.

"River?" the Doctor asked as he and the woman stood up.

The woman – first name 'River' – turned and watched as a ship flew by outside.

"Follow that ship."

* * *

The Doctor and River were both working the controls of the TARDIS while Amy and Scarlett stood close, watching.

"They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them! Stay close!" said River sharply.

"I'm trying!" replied the Doctor.

"Use the stabilisers," she told him.

"There aren't any stabilisers!"

"The blue switches!"

"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just... blue," explained the Time Lord.

"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilisers!" She reached over to flick them on but since Scarlett was closer, she did it for her. She sent her a smile as the ship became quiet.

"Yeah, well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue _boring-er_s," frowned the Doctor.

_Bless his heart… _Scarlett smiled._ I mean hearts._

"Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?" asked Amy.

"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" He frowned before taking a seat to sulk.

"Okay. I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside," smiled River.

"Parked us? We haven't landed," said the Doctor, jumping up from his seat.

"Of course we've landed. I just landed her."

"But it didn't make the noise."

"What noise?" she asked.

"You know, the…" he dragged off and started to make a strange wheezing sound, which was, Scarlett guessed, his impression of the TARDIS landing. She'll admit, he was pretty close, but she still couldn't help herself as she let out a small laugh.

"It's not supposed to make that noise," said River. "_You_ leave the brakes on."

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise," he said defensively.

To be fair, Scarlett quite liked the noise, too. It was… comforting.

"Come along, Watkins, Pond," he nodded towards Amy and Scarlett.

"No, wait! Environment checks," said River before any of them could step foot outside.

"Oh, yes, sorry! Quite right; environment checks," the Doctor made his way to the doors and stuck his head outside. "Nice out."

Scarlett snickered. She loved sarcasm and when the Doctor used it, it was just that much better.

"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest –" started Doctor Song before she was cut off by the Doctor.

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen-rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11-hour day, and..." he stuck his head out the door again, "chances of rain later."

River Song rolled her eyes and said to the girls, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that."

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked. She was genuinely intrigued by the mysterious woman.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."

The Doctor sent them a smug grin. "Well, yeah."

"It's a shame you were busy that day," she said, causing Amy and Scarlett to send each other amused grins, "Right then, why did they land here?"

"They didn't land," said the Doctor.

"Sorry?"

"You should've checked the Home Box – it crashed."

River made her way out of the TARDIS and the Doctor followed, only to shut the doors and run back up to the console.

"Explain! Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" inquired Amy.

The Doctor started to work on the controls as he replied, "It's a long story and I don't know most of it. Off we go!"

"What are you doing?" Scarlett asked.

"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

"Are you basically running away?" Amy asked.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because she's the future; my future."

"Can you run away from that?"

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me," said the Doctor.

"Hang on; is that a planet out there?" Amy said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, of course it's a planet."

"You promised us a planet!" Amy smiled, "Five minutes?"

The Doctor looked at them both before sighing. "Okay; five minutes."

"Yes!" Amy grinned in victory before she took Scarlett's hand and pulled her outside as the Doctor continued to speak, "But that's all, 'cause I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"

As they stepped outside, they saw that the ship they were following had crashed on top of a very large and very old stone structure. It was burning in areas and scraps had started to fall to the ground around the TARDIS.

"What caused it to crash?" asked River as the Doctor joined them outside. "Not me."

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase-shift. No survivors," said the Doctor.

"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them."

"About what?"

"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple; unoccupied for centuries," said River as she started to key something in on a handheld device.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked Amy.

"Amy Pond, Scarlett Watkins, Professor River Song," he said reluctantly, pointing to each of them as he said their names.

"Ah, I'm going to be a Professor someday, am I?" the Doctor winced at his mistake, "How exciting!" River laughed, "Spoilers!"

"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that? She just left you a note in a museum!" Amy said, only for the Doctor to walk off and ignore her.

"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum: the Home Box of a category four star liner and, sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score," said River.

"We know," Scarlett laughed.

"It's _hilarious_, isn't it?" she grinned.

The Doctor walked up behind them and laughed sarcastically. "I'm nobody's taxi service!" he turned to River, "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship."

"And you are _so_ wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die," the Doctor stopped to listen. "Now he's listening!" she smiled before speaking into her device. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal," she stopped and turned to the Doctor, holding up her device. "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

The Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver and used it on River's communication device, his face remaining impassive. She smiled and dropped a small curtsey.

"Ooh Doctor, you soniced her!" said Amy in a teasing voice.

Scarlett rolled her eyes playfully at her. As funny as this was, the Doctor didn't seem too happy.

"We have a minute. Shall we?" River said, brandishing a blue book. "Where were we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

"What's the book?" Scarlett asked the Doctor, watching River as she flicked through the pages.

"Stay away from it," replied the Doctor.

"What is it, though?" Amy joined in.

"Her diary."

"_Our _diary," she corrected him.

"Her past, my future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order," he explained before his gaze turned to Scarlett as she stood on her tip-toes to try and see over River's shoulder, "And if you look at it then I will take you to a planet where the locals are all psychic ghosts of its long-dead inhabitants."

Scarlett's eyes widened and she immediately turned away from the older woman next to her, feigning innocence. She didn't even flinch when columns of swirling dust suddenly appeared before turning into four soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms.

Scarlett turned to the Doctor as one of the soldiers started to make his way over to River.

"Doctor?" she said casually.

"Hm?"

"That thing about the ghost planet… That doesn't really exist, right?"

"Well of course it does. It's called Anima Persis and I would not hesitate to let you and Amy have a small holiday there if you don't listen to me," he smiled – a little too sweetly for Scarlett's liking – as the soldier began to speak.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," he said.

"No. I promised you the _equivalent_ of an army," she noted, "This is the Doctor," she gestured towards him and he gave a small salute in return.

The man reached over and shook the Doctor's hand. "Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation," he watched as the Doctor took in the debris. "Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

The Doctor replied with a slight shake of his head.

"Doctor," said River, "what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

* * *

**A/N: Ooh, damn. This is where stuff goes down, eh? Thank you to anyone who has shown interest in this story so far. I honestly love writing it and I'm glad there's at least a small handful of you who enjoy to read it, too. If you ever have any ideas for me then feel free to leave it in a review and I'll see what I can do for you. That totally rhymed... Anyway, thank you, once again! x****  
**


	8. Dark Catacombs

**Chapter Eight:**

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship," said Octavian as they made their way across the grounds. The transport ship had already arrived and the soldiers were busy setting up camp. "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top; we'd be too close to the drives. According to this," he brandished his handheld device, "behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."

Scarlett linked her arm with Amy's and they talked amongst themselves as the Doctor replied to Octavian.

"Oh, good."

"Good, sir?"

"Catacombs, probably dark ones," he said sardonically, "Dark catacombs, great!"

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead," said Octavian, as if it didn't sound bad enough the first time.

"You can stop any time you like," the Doctor replied, evidently feeling the same way Scarlett did about the whole idea.

"Excuse me, Sir," said Octavian before he made his way over to one of his clerics. The Doctor waved him off and started to use his sonic on some equipment. When Amy and Scarlett reached the table he was standing at, Amy hopped up to take a seat while Scarlett leaned against it, both of them with their eyes trained on the Doctor.

"You're letting people call you "sir". You never do that," said Amy.

Scarlett nodded in agreement. She did have a bit of a point there.

When it was clear the Doctor wasn't going to answer, Scarlett chimed in, "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"

"Now that's interesting..." said the Doctor, finally turning his attention to the pair of them. "You're both still here. Which part of "Wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe" was so confusing?"

"Ooh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" asked Amy teasingly.

Scarlett would've laughed if the Doctor hadn't started to speak again. His voice was low, as if he were warning them. "A Weeping Angel, Scarlett, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in with a screwdriver and a torch – and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face – do something clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

While Scarlett felt an immediate fear of the Weeping Angel, Amy didn't seem fazed. Now, Scarlett had known this girl for a long time and she's usually the one who scares easy (Rory even more so), so why was she so afraid while Amy just brushed the information off like she couldn't care less?

"Is River Song your wife?" asked Amy and Scarlett felt a pang of jealousy. She wasn't sure why. She guessed it was because she just found the Doctor physically attractive. Yeah, that must be it. "'Cause she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kinda like, you know… "Heel, boy!" She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife one day?"

"Yes. You're right," he replied and Amy's eyes widened. "I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today."

Scarlett let out a relieved sigh. She thought he may have meant something else for a minute.

"Doctor?" River's voice broke the silence. "Octavian?"

Amy hopped off of the table and they both followed the Doctor to where River was busying herself.

"Why do they call him Father?" asked Amy.

"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st Century, the Church has moved on," he shrugged.

They entered the transport ship – a sort of pod-like room – to find River playing with a remote. When they turned, they saw a black and white video on screen of a stone statute. Its body was at an angle and it had its hands over it eyes, almost as if it were shy, or upset.

Scarlett frowned. Could statues even _be _shy or upset?

"What do you think?" asked River. "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop."

Scarlett liked River. Despite the slight jealous feeling she got when Amy asked the Doctor if she was his wife, she still seemed friendly, and kept sending her smiles every now and then. Plus there's that "_you might want to find something to hang on to_" line, which she still found hilarious.

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face," agreed the Doctor.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" asked Octavian who had now joined them and kept glancing nervously at the screen.

"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving," he answered.

"It's just a statue," said Amy, wondering what all the fuss is about.

"It's a statue when you see it," River said, causing Scarlett's frown to deepen.

_What the hell does that mean?_

"Where did it come from?" asked the Doctor who clearly wanted to get this over and done with. Scarlett couldn't blame him. Statues had always freaked her out to no end.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time," answered Doctor Song who had sensed Scarlett's nervousness and flashed her another reassuring smile. Scarlett tried her best to return it but it fell after a second or so.

The Doctor shook his head, getting closer to the screen. "There's a difference between dormant and patient."

"What does that mean," Scarlett said, finally deciding to voice her thoughts, "it's a statue when you see it?"

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen," River answered, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "So legend has it."

"No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock," said the Doctor. "In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defence mechanism."

"What, being a stone?" Amy asked.

"Being a stone... until you turn your back."

* * *

The Doctor led everyone out of the transport ship. River and Octavian were behind him while Amy and Scarlett brought up the rear, listening to the Doctor ramble. Although unlike his usual ramblings where he was just talking about something he found exciting, this one sounded important.

"The hyperdrive would've split on impact. The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing."

"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked hopefully.

"Dinner to an Angel," the Doctor replied.

_Oh, of course_, Scarlett thought.

"The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?" he continued.

River glanced down at her handheld device. "The Aplans; the indigenous life-form. They died out 400 years ago."

"200 years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists," Octavian finished.

"You lot, you're everywhere! You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you," the Doctor said, causing Amy to roll her eyes and mutter "bloody rabbits".

"Doctor Song, with me," said Octavian.

"Two minutes," she started, "Sweetie, I need you."

The Doctor mouthed, "Sweetie?" and Scarlett gave him a slap on the back of his head.

"She means you, stupid!"

"Oh, right, yeah," He nodded, sticking his lower lip out in a pout as he made his way to River, while simultaneously rubbing his head.

"Anybody need us?" Amy asked, throwing her arms out for emphasis.

"Nobody?" Scarlett chipped in.

Nobody replied.

Amy sighed and grabbed Scarlett's hand, walking her over to the transport ship again. "Best stay here. If we cause any trouble, the Doctor will kill us."

Scarlett nodded in agreement. Better to be safe than sorry.

Once they were in, Scarlett glanced at the screen again to see that the clip of the Angel was still showing. She gripped Amy's hand tightly and the ginger frowned. "Hey, what's the matter with you? I've never seen you this scared before."

Scarlett shook her head as she stepped closer to the screen, Amy close behind. "I don't know. You know I've never liked statues. They've always creeped me out."

"Understandable, really. They do look a bit… dodgy."

Scarlett nodded slightly but really she was just too focused on the screen to hear her words properly. "Amy? Has that Angel moved?"

She wasn't sure why she was asking. She knew it had moved. Since the last time they saw it, it had moved its hands away from its face. She really wished it hadn't. Now that they could see its features, it looked even creepier than before.

Amy looked at the footage, obviously noticing the same thing Scarlett had. "Let me ask," she said before sticking her head out of the door. "Doctor Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"

"No, just the four seconds," she replied, although she sounded like she was distracted, too.

Confused, Amy wandered back inside.

Scarlett had been watching her movements and when she turned back to the screen once more, the Angel had moved again. The brunette inhaled sharply and Amy gasped quietly. The Angel was now facing forward, hands down at its side. Amy and Scarlett bent over and peered closely at the time code. It looped from 11:24 to 11:28 yet the position of the Angel kept changing. They shared a confused look, and neither of them noticed the door shut and lock behind them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlett saw Amy pick up the remote that River had been using previously. She pressed a button to turn the screen off, but it just kept coming back on. She set the remote down and Scarlett continued to peer at the screen.

"You're just a recording," she mumbled, "You can't move."

Glancing down, Scarlett noticed the plug that controlled the screens power. She knelt down to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. "Amy, help me with this," she said, and her friend complied. Even with their strength combined, the plug still wouldn't move.

Sighing in defeat, they stood up and Scarlett let out a gasp, Amy grabbing her arm tightly in fear. The Angel had moved yet again, but this time it wasn't in the middle of the room. Its face was right up to the camera, letting them see it in all its disturbing glory.

"Doctor!" Scarlett yelled, not wanting to look away from the statue. After all, what was it that the Doctor and River had said earlier? "_The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen_." So her logic was that if she kept looking, it wouldn't be able to move, and she and Amy would be safe… Right?

Amy ran to try to open the door and Scarlett – being the complete idiot that she was – turned to watch her. Shaking her head and mentally scolding herself for being so stupid, she quickly turned back to the monitor to see that the Angel's mouth was now open, its teeth on show and in full predatory mode. She let out a quiet whimper and Amy started to press random buttons on the keypad for the door. "It won't open!"

"Doctor!" Scarlett yelled again, slightly louder than last time.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted.

"We'll be fine," Scarlett said, more to reassure herself than Amy. "The Doctor will save us. It's what he does, right?"

Amy didn't answer. She continued to bang her hand against the door while Scarlett tried to come up with a plan. "Okay, on the count of 3, we'll both yell for the Doctor… Got it?"

"Got it," said Amy nervously.

"One… two," Scarlett started before Amy finished off with a "three."

"DOCTOR!" they both yelled simultaneously.

Scarlett couldn't stop herself. She blinked. And when her eyes opened, she saw the Angel becoming solid in the middle of the room.

"Get back!" yelled Amy, grabbing her arm and pulling the English girl closer to her.

Scarlett took a deep breath before yelling with all she had, "DOCTOR! It's in the room!"

They heard footsteps and then the Doctor's voice yelling, "Scarlett! Amy!"

"Doctor!" said Amy, resorting to punching the keypad again.

"Are you both all right? What's happening?" asked the Doctor, sounding flustered.

"Doctor, it's coming out of the television," Scarlett said, her nerves reaching breaking point. Her eyes were still trained on the Angel's ugly face and she really wished she could look away. She didn't want to have this image in her head forever.

"The Angel is here," added Amy.

"Don't take your eyes off it! It can't move if you're looking!" he replied before having a conversation with someone who the girls assumed to be River.

"Yeah, I'm trying!" Scarlett yelled.

"Don't blink, Scarlett! Don't even blink!" the Doctor replied. He can't – no, he _won't_ – let anything happen to his girls. Not if he could help it.

"Help us!" Amy shouted; fear creeping into her voice.

"Amy! Can you turn it off?"

"I've tried!" she sighed.

"Try again," he said, "but don't take your eyes off the Angel."

"We're not!" Amy shouted.

"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink."

"We're not blinking!" Scarlett answered; having to close one eye at a time to make sure she always had her eyes on the Angel. "Have you ever tried not blinking?"

Amy fumbled for the remote without taking her eyes off the Angel, although she relaxed slightly when she remembered that Scarlett was staring at it, too. She grabbed it and backed away to the door, trying to turn it off again. It didn't make a difference.

"It just keeps switching back on!"

"Yeah, it's the Angel," the Doctor said.

"But it's just a recording," Scarlett said, trying to keep her voice strong and failing miserably.

"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel _is_ an Angel," he answered before turning to talk to River again.

"Doctor, what's it gonna do to us?" Amy asked.

Honestly, Scarlett had been thinking that, too. She had just been too scared of the answer to even bother asking.

"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!"

"Just tell us!" Scarlett said, "Tell us!"

The Doctor grabbed a book he and River had been looking at previously and his eyes widened.

"Girls, not the eyes. Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes."

_Now, why did he have to say that? If someone says "don't look", you're obviously going to look. And the fact that I had already been looking there prior to this conversation sort of means that I am royally screwed, _Scarlett thought, but didn't dare say aloud.

"The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter there," they heard him say.

"Doctor, what did you say?" Scarlett asked.

"Don't look at the eyes!" he answered.

"No, about images; what did you say about images?"

"Whatever holds the image of an Angel_ is_ an Angel," River replied.

Scarlett glanced down at the time code and nodded briefly to herself.

"Amy, when I say 'four', I want you to press the off button again, okay?" Scarlett said. Sure, there was a chance that this wouldn't work, but she had to do something. She couldn't let Amy get hurt and honestly, she didn't really want to die, either.

"But we've already tried –"

"Please! Just do it."

"Okay, okay," she replied, holding the remote in preparation.

"One, two, three," Scarlett kept her eyes on the time code, knowing that Amy would be watching the Angel. And she was right; Amy had her eyes trained on its waist. "Four!" Scarlett finished, once the footage had turned to static.

The image of the Angel froze before turning off and they heard the door opening. Relief flooded through them as River and the Doctor ran in, the latter reaching down to quickly unplug the screen.

"I froze it!" Amy said. "Scarlett found a sort of blip on the tape, and we froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

"That was amazing!" River agreed.

"River, hug the girls," the Doctor demanded.

"Why?" Scarlett asked.

"Because I'm busy."

Scarlett rolled her eyes as River pulled the young girls into a hug.

"We're fine!" Amy said.

"You're brilliant," River added.

"Thanks," said Amy as they pulled out of the hug. She threw her arm around Scarlett's shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, we kind of creamed it, didn't we?"

"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River asked the Doctor.

"That was a projection of the Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."

Outside, the clerics set off an explosion and each of them jumped at the noise.

"Doctor! We're through!" said Octavian from outside.

The Doctor turned to them briefly. "Okay. Now it starts." Then he left to join the soldiers, Amy following closely behind.

Scarlett paused, feeling her eye start to get irritated. Frowning, she lifted her hand to rub it, and found that nothing was there.

River – who was standing at the door – paused. "Coming?"

Scarlett nodded. "Yeah, coming. I just… thought there was something in my eye."


	9. The Rope Ladder Theorem

**Chapter Nine:**

Scarlett's nerves shook as she climbed down a rope ladder; a _shaky, unstable_ rope ladder. "Doctor, if I fall, I swear I will –"

"Oh, you'll be fine! Come on; no time to lose," he said, clapping his hands together in what could only be described as a patronising way. Scarlett rolled her eyes, getting so distracted by thinking of ways she could injure the Doctor that her foot missed the last rung of the ladder and she slipped; falling straight into the man himself. He stumbled backwards slightly before catching himself and wrapping his arms around her waist to ensure she didn't fall flat on her face.

They both tried to ignore the position of his hands and to break the tension; Scarlett gave him a playful shove backwards. "See what I mean? I could've died!"

The Doctor chuckled, "Oh come on, Scarlett. How many people do you know that have died from falling off the last rung of a ladder?"

"I'm sure it's happened to someone!"

He was about to retort but was cut off by Amy – who had just climbed down the ladder with River – asking them where they were.

"It's an Aplan mortarium. Sometimes called a maze of the dead," said River as the Doctor went off to grab whatever a 'gravity globe' is.

"And what's that?" Amy continued.

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," said the Doctor, pausing to kick the gravity ball like it was a football. It flew into the air before freezing, letting off just the right amount of light for them to see the statues lining the cave walls, "the perfect hiding place."

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," said Octavian as Scarlett took a spare torch from Amy and switched it on in preparation.

"A bit, yeah," nodded the Doctor.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues... A lot harder than I'd prayed for," Octavian replied.

"A needle in a haystack," River added.

"A needle that looks like hay," started the Doctor. "A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er… statues," He shook his head. "No, yours was fine."

Scarlett rolled her eyes and stuck close to Amy. One statue was enough but now she was surrounded by them and the only way for them to go was up. Not only that, but her eye was still itching like crazy. Every time she tried to get the dust out; she found that there was nothing there. _If I get some kind of eye infection because of this stupid cave, I will not be happy, _she sulked.

"Right," said Octavian, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question – how do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope," said the Doctor, taking off without another word.

"Oh, that's comforting," Scarlett mumbled as Amy quickly followed him.

Octavian stopped River to have a chat and Scarlett raised her eyebrows at her as if to ask '_Do I stay or do I go?_' She waved her on with a small smile and Scarlett nodded once before taking off again.

When the brunette caught up with the Doctor and Amy, they were making small talk and shining their torches in every direction, looking carefully at the statues. She followed suit for a little while, before the itch in her eye got so unbearable that she had to stop. Pointing her torch downwards, Scarlett lifted her free hand and rubbed her eye gently. Normally the itch would subside and she would carry on as normal, but this time was different; as she rubbed her eye, she felt some kind of powder flow through the gaps in her fingers. Frowning, she pulled her hand away abruptly; just in time to see dark sand and grit fall to the floor.

_There is no way that came out of my eye, _Scarlett told herself._ Maybe I just had some dust on my hands and I didn't notice it before. Yeah, that must be it. _

"You all right?" said a voice from behind.

Scarlett started, and turned to see River next to her. She raised her eyebrows slightly at her reaction but Scarlett just laughed it off. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. So, what's a maze of the dead?"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls," Scarlett's eyes widened and River laughed. "Okay, that was fairly bad. Right, give me your arm. This won't hurt a bit." Scarlett didn't have a chance to hesitate as River took her arm and injected her with a syringe that she had been hiding from her view until then. Sneaky River.

"Ow!" Scarlett exclaimed; rubbing the spot on her forearm that had just had a needle _jabbed into it._

"There, you see? I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."

Scarlett nodded in understanding. She supposed she would rather have an injection than die, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Ssh," River said, hiding the syringe behind her back as Amy approached to try and trick her the same way she did with Scarlett. Snickering, the younger girl gave a small salute before making her way over to the Doctor. She had no idea what he was supposed to be doing so she just leant against a wall and watched.

"Yes, we are," said River suddenly.

"Sorry, what?" asked the Doctor, his gaze never leaving the device Scarlett had been watching him try to figure out for the last few minutes. She knew not to speak to him at that particular moment; not while he was trying to concentrate.

"Talking about you."

"I wasn't listening, I'm busy."

"Ah," said River. "The other way up."

The Doctor paused, turning the device the right way round before nodding slightly in embarrassment.

"You're so his wife," Amy said.

"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy! This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?"

_Please no, _Scarlett willed.

"Yep," she replied.

_Well then._

"You're good," smiled River. "You're not exactly right… but you are very good."

* * *

Amy and River stood on one side of the cave while the Doctor and Scarlett were on the other when they heard it. After all, the sound of gunfire was hard to miss.

Their eyes widened and they followed the sound straight to the main chamber to find a young cleric with his gun out.

"Sorry. Sorry, I thought… I thought it looked at me," the cleric said, his voice shaking slightly.

Scarlett instantly felt bad for the poor man. She probably would've done the same thing he did, anyway.

Octavian stepped up then, "We know what the Angel looks like. Is _that_ the Angel?"

"No, sir."

"No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good – it would be very good – if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor," said Octavian sharply.

Scarlett grimaced. She had respect for the man, don't get her wrong, but it was hard to like him when he was acting like such an arse.

"Oh, leave him alone! He was just scared. Would you rather he took a chance and shot at what he _thought_ was the Angel or not do anything at all and have him get killed?" she snapped.

Octavian looked like he wanted to retort but had the wit to stay quiet.

Scarlett sighed slightly at her outburst before turning to the younger cleric. "What's your name?"

"Bob, ma'am."

"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob," smiled the Doctor, throwing his arm around Scarlett's shoulders.

"It's a Sacred Name," explained Octavian. "We all have Sacred Names; they're given to us in the service of the Church."

"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" the Doctor asked kindly.

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on."

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," said Octavian before he turned to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."

Bob nodded and everyone made their way back to their original spots.

On Scarlett's way out of the chamber, she turned to give Bob a reassuring smile, which he returned shakily.

When she turned the corner, Amy joined their arms and walked with her.

"That was really nice of you, you know," she said. "What you did for Bob. Octavian was bang out of order. Plus, the Doctor thought it was great."

"He did?" Scarlett asked. She had completely forgotten the Doctor was watching her when she told off Octavian.

"Are you joking? He had to fight to keep the grin off his face," she laughed as they met up with the others, leaving Scarlett feeling strangely proud.

"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse? There's a whole ship up there," the ginger said as they reached River.

"Incredible builders, the Aplans," she replied.

"Had dinner with their chief architect once. Two heads are better than one," the Doctor added as they continued to climb through the maze.

"You mean you helped him?" Scarlett asked, letting go of Amy and moving closer to the Time Lord instead.

"No, I mean he had two heads."

_Oh, of course._

He turned to River. "That book, the very end, what did it say?"

"Hang on," River told him as she pulled a worn out book out of her pack.

"Read it to me."

"What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?" River said, reading a short paragraph from the book. "What if one day our dreams no longer needed us?" As she recited the words, a drip drop of water was heard throughout the cave, adding to the formidable atmosphere. "When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us; the time of Angels."

A tense moment passed as they each absorbed the words written by the Aplans until Amy finally decided to try and lighten the mood.

"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb," she said as everyone relaxed and continued the trek through the cave.

"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go," replied River.

"Lovely species, the Aplans," said the Doctor, shining his torch in every direction. "We should visit them some time."

Scarlett nodded in agreement and copied the actions of the man in front of her, although she had to admit she was hoping she didn't run into the Angel any time soon. Trying to distract herself from the thoughts of the stone savage, she spoke up. "I thought they were all dead?"

"So's Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head," the Doctor concluded.

"Doctor, there's something," River said suddenly, pulling the Doctor out of his reverie. "I don't know what it is…"

"Yeah, something wrong. Don't know what it is yet either, working on it," nodded the Doctor before continuing his speech. "Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was _that _about? But that's the church for you," He paused, "Um, no offence, Bishop."

"Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor," he replied as they walked through a narrow corridor filled with statues. "Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way," He gestured with his gun.

"Church had a point, if you think about it," Scarlett said.

Amy nodded with a slight laugh. "I know, right? The divorces must have been messy."

They continued their journey through the corridor until the Doctor stopped abruptly, almost causing Amy and Scarlett to bang straight into his back like they usually did.

"Oh," he said, his face dropping in realisation.

"What's wrong?" Scarlett asked.

"Oh," said River, clearly noticing the same thing as the Doctor.

"Exactly."

"How could we not notice that?" she growled, angry at herself.

"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're _thick_." _How could I have not noticed this before? _He scolded himself. _Stupid, stupid Doctor!_

Octavian turned. "What's wrong, Sir?"

"Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are," the Doctor said, throwing out his arm to keep everyone back. As if they would be going anywhere anyway. "Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger."

"What danger?" Amy frowned.

"The Aplans," River said.

_Well, that explained nothing, _Amy thought, oblivious to the fact that Scarlett was thinking the exact same thing.

"The Aplans?" Octavian repeated.

"They've got two heads," she answered vaguely.

"Yes, I get that," said Octavian, practically fighting to hold back a sigh. "So?"

"So why don't the statues?" the Doctor questioned.

_Oh._

"Everyone, over there. Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak," he continued, giving Scarlett a small shove backwards to a space sans statues. "I want you all to switch off your torches."

"Doctor?" Amy said, clearly thinking the man had gone mad… Which he probably had.

"Just do it," He paused and waited until the torches were all switched off. "Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."

River frowned. "Are you sure about this?"

"No," he admitted before switching off his torch for a split second. When he switched it back on, the statues in the cave had all turned to face them.

"Oh my God –" Scarlett started.

"– they've moved," finished Amy.

The Doctor ran ahead and they followed quickly.

You know how people pinch themselves to check if they're having a dream? Scarlett had done that. At least five times already. Yet she still found herself just hoping that this particular adventure was all just a nightmare and that she'd wake up soon on the TARDIS, safe and sound.

"They're Angels; all of them," the Doctor said.

River shook her head, placing her hand on the small of Scarlett's back and rubbing it reassuringly. "But they can't be."

God, Scarlett really hoped she was right.

"Clerics, keep watching them!" ordered the Doctor, looking behind them to see that the Angels had moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel…"

Fear gripped Scarlett's heart and she shook her head in disbelief.

"And they're coming after us."


	10. Janus in Statue Form

**Chapter Ten**

"There was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear," River argued. She would never have sent them in there if she thought they were going into any immediate danger.

"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked.

"The Aplans, how did they die out?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Amy's question for the time being.

River shrugged. "Nobody knows."

"We know."

"They don't look like Angels," said Octavian, trying to convince himself as well as everyone else.

"And they're not fast," added Amy. "You said they were fast. They should have had us by now."

"They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving," the Doctor stated.

Everyone turned to look at Scarlett as she spoke for the first time since finding out about the statues, "Losing their image."

The Doctor placed a hand on her arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze before moving on. "And their image is their power… Power. Power!"

"Doctor?" frowned Amy.

"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident – it was a _rescue mission_, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army… and it's waking up."

"We need to get out of here, fast," said River.

Octavian nodded in agreement before speaking into his communication device. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!"

There was a short pause before another voice spoke back.

"_It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir._"

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat; all the statues are active!"

"_I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir._"

The Doctor strode over to Octavian then, taking the communicator from his hands. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"

"I'm talking to my –" started Octavian.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!"

"_I'm on my way up to you, sir; I'm homing in on your signal._"

"Well done, Bob," smiled the Doctor. "Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"

"_Snapped their necks, sir._"

The Doctor's face fell. "That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you; they displace you in time, unless they needed the bodies for something."

Octavian took the communicator from the Doctor's hands. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."

The Doctor took the device back. "Don't be an idiot! The Angels don't leave you alive!" Turning back to the communicator, he continued. "Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"

"_I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too._"

A draft whirled round the cave and Scarlett felt a shiver run down her spine.

"What do you mean the Angel killed you too?" the Doctor continued, ignoring everyone's confused and startled expressions.

"_Snapped my neck, sir." _Scarlett suppressed a groan._ "Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something_."

"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

_"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you,"_ explained Angel Bob_. "Sorry about the confusion."_

"So when you say you're on your way up to us..."

"_It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes._"

The Doctor sighed. "No way out."

"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" ordered Octavian.

"Go, go, go. All of you run!" the Doctor added.

Amy and Scarlett joined hands and the former turned to the Doctor briefly, "Doctor?"

"Yes, I'm coming, just go, go, go!"

Amy nodded and dragged Scarlett down a pathway, with River and the clerics following behind. They reached a bridge and Scarlett grabbed onto the rail to help herself across without falling, but when she attempted to move it again, she couldn't.

"Scarlett? What are you doing?" Amy frowned, dropping Scarlett's free hand to look at her.

River and the clerics ran past them hastily but Scarlett couldn't blame them. She'd want to be safe as quickly as possible, too.

When she glanced down at her hand, her eyes widened in shock. It was no longer a hand made up of flesh and blood but of… stone. Scarlett shook her head. She must be hallucinating. Fear could do that to a person, right? She shut her eyes briefly before opening them again, expecting to see her real hand back in place. But unfortunately, she was wrong.

The Doctor and Octavian ran straight past them before the Doctor backtracked by himself. "Don't wait for me, go, run," he insisted.

"I can't. I really can't," Scarlett said weakly.

"Why not?" asked the Doctor hurriedly.

"Look at it! Look at my hand," Scarlett gestured with her free hand. "It's stone!"

The Doctor lifted his torch, shining it into her eyes. She flinched and only managed to keep eye contact for a few seconds before looking away.

"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" the Doctor asked, his voice soft.

"I couldn't stop myself. I tried. By the time you told me not to, I had already done it," Scarlett frowned. Now really wasn't the time to start criticising her choices.

"Listen," started the Doctor. "It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

Scarlett gaped at him. Was he normally this stupid?

"It is! Look at it!"

"It's not," added Amy, reminding Scarlett that she was still there, waiting for them both.

"It's in your mind. I promise you," continued the Doctor. "You can move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's _stone_."

As Scarlett spoke, their torch lights began to flicker on and off.

"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it; concentrate, move your hand!" he urged.

Tears sprang to Scarlett's eyes and she shook her head adamantly. "I can't."

"Then we're both going to die," said the Doctor before glancing at Amy. "Amy, go."

She hesitated slightly before obeying, and running off to find River.

"You're not going to die," Scarlett said.

"They'll kill the lights."

The torch flickered off briefly and the Angels moved closer.

"You've got to go, you know you have. River knows you in the future. You know you can't die here!"

"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that," he replied.

The light flickered again and they turned to look at the approaching Angels.

"Keep your eyes on them. Don't blink," the Doctor reminded her.

"Run!" Scarlett insisted.

"You see, I'm not going, I'm not leaving you here."

"I don't need you to die for me, Doctor, do I look that clingy?" Scarlett sighed, all while secretly hoping he wouldn't really leave her.

"You can move your hand," he tried again. In the short time that he had known Scarlett, he had learned that she was strong. She could get past this. She could beat the Angel.

"It's stone."

"It's _not _stone!"

"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them," Scarlett reasoned.

"Scarlett Watkins, you are magnificent. And I'm sorry."

Scarlett sank her teeth into her lower lip and nodded slightly. "It's okay. I understand. You've got to leave me."

"Oh, no, I'm not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this," he paused for a moment to bend down and sank his teeth into her hand. Scarlett let out a yelp of surprise, pulling her hand back and cradling it to her chest. "See? Not stone. Now run!"

"You bit me!" Scarlett yelled.

"Yep, and you're alive," he nodded while pushing her backwards towards the next passage.

"I've got a mark!" Scarlett frowned, sticking her hand out to show him. "Look at my hand!"

"Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?"

"Blimey, your teeth! Have you got space teeth?"

"Alive," he continued.

"If this is what you do with your teeth I'd hate to see your –"

"Alive! All I'm saying!" he repeated, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence just yet, before grabbing her hand and pulling her into a run.

When they reached the others, Octavian was finishing off his sentence.

"… Expect incoming."

"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves," said the Doctor, carefully pushing Scarlett into Amy's awaiting arms.

"Which means we won't be able to see them," replied Octavian.

"Which means we can't stay here," finished the Doctor.

"Any suggestions?" asked River.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium," Octavian answered quickly.

"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea," River said, the last part directed at the Doctor.

The lights flickered once more, and when they could see again they noticed that the Angels had moved closer, practically blocking off the passage.

"There's always a way out," said the Doctor.

"_Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?_" Angel Bob's voice blared from the communicator once more.

"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?"

"_Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir._"

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"_There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end._"

"Which is?"

"_I died in fear_."

"I'm sorry?"

"_You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down._"

Amy frowned and kept her grip on Scarlett's arm while whispering to River. "What are they doing?"

River lowered her voice before replying. "They're trying to make him angry."

"_I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that._"

The Doctor's expression changed briefly but it was gone in a second. "Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."

"_But you're trapped, sir, and about to die_."

"Yeah, I'm trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!"

"_What mistake, sir?_"

The Doctor turned to face everyone.

"Trust me?"

"Always," said River as Amy nodded her head with a smile.

"What she said," Scarlett added with a small laugh.

He grinned and turned to the clerics. "You lot – trust me?"

Octavian nodded. "We have faith, sir."

"Then give me your gun." He continued once the gun was in his hand. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do," he paused to demonstrate, "Jump."

"Jump where?" Octavian asked.

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on! Leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it," he said, aiming the gun at the roof of the cave.

"_Sorry, can I ask again?_" asked Angel Bob. "_You mentioned a mistake?_"

"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, _ever_ put in a trap."

"_And what would that be, sir?_"

The Doctor smirked, "Me."

He fired the gun at the gravity globe and they all jumped, falling into nothingness.


	11. Angels of Laughter

**Chapter Eleven:**

Amy and Scarlett stumbled to the ground as everyone else landed on their feet. _I should've seen that one coming, _Scarlett shrugged.

One of the clerics rushed over to help them up and Scarlett shot him a grateful smile as the Doctor told everyone to look up.

"What happened?" Scarlett asked.

"We jumped," replied River.

"Jumped where?" Amy added.

"Up, up, look up!" ordered the Doctor.

"Where are we?" Amy tried again.

"Exactly where we were… Am I right?" Scarlett turned to River and saw she had a trace of a smile on her lips.

Amy frowned. "No, we're not."

The Doctor – who had been using his sonic on some kind of indentation on the ground – sighed. "Oh, come on, Amy, think! The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on? The artificial gravity. One good jump," he paused to demonstrate again, "and up we fell. Shot out the grav-globe to give us an updraft, and here we are!"

"Doctor," said Octavian suddenly. "The statues, they look more like Angels now."

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army!" As he spoke, the indentation opened up into the ship, just as the lights started to flicker once more. "They're taking out the lights. Look at them, look at the Angels. Into the ship now, quickly; all of you!"

Before any of them had a chance to reply, the Doctor slipped into the hole and ended up in a Byzantium corridor.

"Doctor?" Scarlett called as she and Amy peered down into the hole.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!"

Amy hesitated slightly but with one good push from Scarlett, she landed straight in the corridor. Whirling round, she gave Scarlett a half-hearted glare as she landed behind her.

"Thanks for that, Scarlett," she said sarcastically.

"Anytime," Scarlett grinned, patting her cheek before wandering over to the Doctor, Octavian following suit.

"The Angels, presumably they can jump up too?" he asked.

The door shut behind them all then, as if the Angels could hear the Bishop's question.

"They're here," stated the Doctor. _Thank you, Captain Obvious_. "Now, in the dark, we're finished. Run!"

They turned, but not quickly enough. Another large door slid closed, blocking their only escape.

"This whole place is a death trap," Octavian said, his hands clasped around his gun.

"No, it's a time bomb," the Doctor paused, "Well; it's a death trap _and _a time bomb... And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." Scarlett rolled her eyes, reaching up to slap the back of his head. "Oh, just me then," he said, sending her a quick grumpy look before changing the subject. "What's through here?"

"Secondary flight deck," replied River.

"Okay, so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Amy asked, "So what if the gravity fails?"

"I've thought about that," said the Doctor.

Scarlett relaxed, but only by a little. At least he had given it some thought.

"And?"

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it." Scarlett's eyes widened and she noticed Amy had the same reaction. The Doctor was oblivious as he continued to work. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible."

"How impossible?" River asked.

"Two minutes."

The brunette stood there, wringing her hands and feeling somewhat useless when a slight hum of the engines powering down was heard throughout. The hole they came in through had reopened and they could see the dark cavern outside.

"The hull is breached and the power's failing," said Octavian urgently.

"Sir! Incoming!" yelled a cleric as the lights went out.

Scarlett wrapped her arms around herself, trying to seek some kind of comfort. She wasn't afraid of the dark or anything, but when there are deadly statues chasing you and the only way to stop them is by looking at them then the dark can be a _bit_ of a disadvantage.

"Doctor! Lights!" Amy said.

The Doctor used his sonic to help River and the lights came back on to show four Angels that had made their way inside the corridor with them.

"Good work, Doctor," Octavian nodded.

"Yes, good," said the Doctor. "Good in many ways, glad you like it so far."

"So far?" Scarlett squeaked.

"Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"Good, fine, do it," said Octavian.

"Including the lights. All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights," the Doctor finished.

"How long for?"

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer… Maybe quite a bit longer."

"Maybe?"

"I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship; there isn't a manual for this!" the Doctor stated. Something told Scarlett that even if there _was_ a manual for this, the Doctor wouldn't use it.

"Doctor, we lost the torches," said Amy with a glance at Scarlett. "We'll be in total darkness."

"No other way. Bishop?"

Octavian turned to River instead of answering. "Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?"

"I absolutely trust him," she answered.

"He's not some kind of madman then?"

There was a pause before River said again, "I absolutely trust him."

A small smile made its way onto Scarlett's lips and River sent her a wink as the Doctor started to work on the door.

"Okay. Doctor, we've got your back."

"Bless you. Bishop," replied the Doctor distractedly.

Octavian moved to give the clerics orders when the Doctor called the Leadworth girls over.

"Girls, when the lights go down, the wheel should release," he gestured toward said wheel, "Spin it clockwise, four turns."

"Ten," Scarlett said.

The Doctor frowned. "No; four. Four turns."

"Yeah, four, we heard you," Scarlett replied with a frown of her own as they positioned themselves at the door. Why was he correcting her when she didn't even say anything?

"Ready!" the Doctor announced, readying his sonic.

"On my count then," said Octavian. "God be with us all. Three... two... one," The lights went out and he spoke again. "Fire!"

Amy and Scarlett put all their strength into turning the wheel, with a little help from River and the Doctor. The clerics were shooting at the Angels but from what the girls could gather, it wasn't helping.

"It's opening, it's working!" said Amy.

"Fall back!" yelled Octavian and everyone slipped through the open door into the secondary flight deck, just seconds before it closed again.

The flight deck was a mess with wires hanging loose everywhere they looked but the Doctor didn't seem to notice as he ran straight over to one of the controls.

The hatch lock on the door started to spin and Octavian placed some kind of magnetizing device against it.

"What are you doing?" Scarlett asked.

"Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now," he said somewhat smugly.

The Doctor looked up just as the wheel began to turn again, "Yeah?"

"Dear God!"

"Ah, now you're getting it! You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time."

"Doctor!" said Amy suddenly as another door wheel started to spin.

"Seal that door! Seal it now!" Octavian ordered, and one of his clerics did exactly that.

"We're surrounded!" River announced as another cleric magnetized yet another door.

"Doctor, how long have we got?" Octavian asked as Scarlett leant against a table, watching the Doctor.

"Five minutes, max," he replied.

"Nine," Scarlett said.

The Doctor looked up at her. "Five."

Scarlett frowned. Was he correcting her _again_?

"Five, right, yeah."

"Why did you say nine?" he asked.

Her frown deepened and she started to wonder if all of that running had gone to the Doctor's head.

"I didn't?"

"We need another way out of here," River said, thankfully changing the subject.

"There isn't one," Octavian replied.

"Yeah, there is, course there is. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet-falls. So, what do they need?" the Doctor grinned.

"Of course," said River as if she had just suddenly remembered that the sky was blue.

"Of course what? What do they need?" Amy asked, moving to stand next to Scarlett.

"Can we get in there?" Octavian questioned.

"Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps. Release the clamps!" the Doctor used his sonic on the clamps and the door started to rise.

"What's through there? What do they need?" asked Amy.

River smiled, "They need to breathe."

Scarlett's eyes widened as the door opened fully and they all took in the large forest in front of them.

"But that's…" Scarlett started.

"It's an oxygen factory," River smiled.

"It's a forest," Amy said.

"Yeah, it's a forest. It's an oxygen factory," River spoke a little slower as if she were talking to a child.

"And, if we're lucky, an escape route," the Doctor said.

Scarlett started out at the jungle, both confused and amazed. "Eight."

"What did you say?" River asked suddenly.

"Nothing," Scarlett replied. Great, now _she's_ doing it, too?

"But trees! On a spaceship?" Amy asked.

"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're going to love this," the Doctor ran out into the forest. "Treeborgs…" he opened a section on the tree to show them a bunch of wires inside, "Trees plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze. Have I impressed you yet?"

A small laugh left Scarlett's lips and she shook her head in awe. "Seven."

"Seven?" the Doctor said randomly, walking back onto the flight deck and standing just an inch away from her.

"Sorry, what?"

"You said seven," he stated, leaning closer so that their noses were almost touching.

"Why do you keep doing this? I didn't say anything," Scarlett frowned.

"Yes, you did," said River.

"Oh, River, not you, too," Scarlett whined.

"Doctor!" said Octavian. "There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."

"Good, that's where we need to go," he said, not bothering to look in his direction.

"Plotting a safe path," announced the Bishop.

"Quick as you like!" the Doctor said, his gaze still trained on Scarlett. He was pretty good at this 'not blinking' lark.

_"Doctor? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."_

Scarlett never thought she would be grateful towards a murderous statue but in that moment, she was, because the Doctor finally turned away from her and sat down in a chair instead.

"Ah, there you are, Angel Bob. How's life?" he paused. "Sorry, bad subject."

Amy smiled softly at his joke as Angel Bob replied, _"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."_

"Achieve?" the Doctor scoffed. "We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

_"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."_

"Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

_"We have no need of comfy chairs."_

The Doctor glanced at Amy and Scarlett and grinned. "I made him say comfy chairs!"

Scarlett laughed. "Six."

The Doctor's smile fell abruptly and he jumped up from his seat. "Okay, well, enough chat. Here's what I want to know; what have you done to Scarlett?"

Scarlett stopped laughing immediately. "What?"

_"There's something in her eye."_

"What's in her eye?" the Doctor asked.

_"We are."_

"What's he talking about? Doctor, I'm five," Scarlett's eyes widened as she realised what she just said. But honestly, she didn't remember saying any numbers until then. Everyone turned to stare at her, Amy in particular looking worried. Scarlett shook her head with a nervous laugh. "I mean five. Fine! I'm fine."

River stepped closer to me slowly.

"You're counting."

Scarlett turned to look at her and saw that she looked as scared as Scarlett felt.

"Counting?"

"You're counting down," said the Doctor, staring at her yet again, "From ten. You have been for a couple of minutes."

Panic soared through her and she had to force herself to keep calm.

"Why?" Scarlett asked.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Well, counting down to what?"

"I don't know."

_"We shall take her," _said Angel Bob. _"We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."_

"Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again," the Doctor laughed humourlessly. "There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."

_"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."_

At his words, a loud, screeching noise started to blare throughout the ship. Scarlett covered her ears to block out the sound as River yelled over the racket.

"Dear God, what is it?"

"They're back," Octavian said.

Amy gently pried Scarlett's hands away from her ears and gave them a small, reassuring squeeze; one that she was extremely thankful for.

_"It's hard to put it in your terms, Doctor Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing."_

"Laughing?" asked the Doctor.

_"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."_

"No, wait, there's something I've…" the Doctor turned slowly to see a glowing crack high up on the wall opposite him, "missed."

"That's..." Amy turned to Scarlett and now it was her turn to reassure her friend. "That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl."

"Yes," the Doctor answered.

"Okay, enough!" yelled Octavian. "We're moving out."

"Agreed," nodded River. "Doctor?"

"Yeah, fine," he said while using his sonic on the crack.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Right with you."

"We're not leaving without you!" River said, voicing both Scarlett and Amy's thoughts, too.

"Oh, yes you are. Bishop?"

"Miss Pond, Miss Watkins, Doctor Song. Now!" Octavian ordered.

River grabbed Scarlett with one hand and Amy with the other, and pulled them out to the forest.

"Doctor, come on!" Scarlett yelled, before they were so far into the bundle of trees that his figure was just a small dot on the horizon.


	12. Countdown

**Chapter Twelve:**

Scarlett was getting weaker by the second. Her whole body felt like lead and it was taking all her strength to just put one foot in front of the other. You know when you've missed breakfast and are only running on a few hours of sleep? It felt like that, times by a trillion. Not only that, but her head was pounding. Like there was something inside her trying to fight its way out.

After around 10 minutes of walking, she knew she wouldn't be able to make it much further. Her pace had slowed considerably and she was starting to feel nauseous. Amy seemed to notice her condition as her knees buckled and she almost fell straight into one of the clerics. Luckily, River was quick; she ran over and gripped Scarlett's arms in an attempt to hold her up, all while dragging her over to a flat rock a few inches in front of them.

"Scarlett? Scarlett, what's wrong?" River asked as the girl sat down shakily.

"Scarlett?" Amy frowned when her friend didn't answer. The look on her face was of pure worry. Everybody was looking at Scarlett anxiously while the clerics glanced between her and their surroundings.

"Four," Scarlett said weakly before lowering herself down so that she was curled up on top of the moss-covered rock.

"Med-scanner, now!" River ordered.

"Doctor Song, we can't stay here," said Octavian hesitantly. "We've got to keep moving."

"We wait for the Doctor," River replied simply, all while scanning Scarlett with the device she had taken from one of the clerics.

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralise the Angels. Until that is achieved –" Octavian started.

"Father Octavian," River cut in. "When the Doctor is in the room, your only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me; it's not easy. Now, if he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself, and if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And, Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," grinned the Doctor from behind River.

"I hate you," River said, although she was doing her best to fight off a smile.

"No, you don't. Bishop, the Angels are in the forest," the Doctor said, making his way over to the rock. Between all of the conversations, Amy had sat beside her friend and by now, Scarlett's head was in her lap while she stroked her hair comfortingly.

"We need visual contact on every line of approach," Octavian told his clerics.

"How did you get past them?" River asked the Doctor.

"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe."

"What was it?" Amy asked.

"The end of the universe," he answered simply before taking the med-scanner from River. "Let's have a look then."

"What's wrong with me?" Scarlett croaked; causing Amy to gently shush her and tell her she'll be okay.

"Nothing, you're fine," said River.

"Everything, you're dying," the Doctor corrected her.

"Doctor!" River snapped.

"Yes, you're right, if we lie to her, she'll get all better!" he snapped back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Right. Scarlie! Scarlie; what's the matter with Scarlett? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Does it mean anything?"

Scarlett wanted to smile at the use of the nickname Amy first gave her when they were little – the Doctor had heard Amy say it on the TARDIS one day and had been using it ever since – but it was like her body wouldn't co-operate with her. Plus there was the whole dying thing to worry about. Yeah, maybe now wasn't the best time to smile after all.

"Doctor," Amy said.

"Busy."

"She's scared!"

"'Course she's scared, she's dying, shut up!"

"Okay, let him think," River said calmly, when really, she was just trying to seem relaxed for their sake.

"What happened?" the Doctor said, mainly to himself as the cogs in his brain turned, trying to search for an explanation. "She stared at the Angel; she looked into the eyes of an Angel for too long…"

"Sir! Angel, incoming!" yelled one of the clerics before another confirmed that he, too, could see an Angel approaching.

"Keep visual contact, do not let it move!" Octavian ordered.

The Doctor started to pace and slapped his head to stimulate his brain like he had the first time Scarlett met him. "Come on, come on, wakey wakey! She watched an Angel climb out of the screen. She stared at the Angel and… and…"

"The image of an Angel is an Angel," Scarlett mumbled, reciting what she had heard just an hour or so before all of this happened. Every alarm bell inside of her was ringing at once and she knew she didn't have long left.

"A living image in a human mind," he added. "We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink, and that's exactly what they want, because as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an Angel in her mind!" the Doctor slapped his hand over his mouth immediately. He had a small smile on his face once he realised he was close to an epiphany, but when he remembered the severity of the situation, he stopped abruptly.

"Three," Scarlett said involuntarily, before regaining control of her speech. "Doctor, am I going to die?"

"Please just shut up, I'm thinking," he replied. If she had had the strength, Scarlett would've slapped him; but unfortunately, she didn't. "Now counting, what's that about?" He lifted the communicator and held it to his mouth. "Bob, why are they making her count?"

_"To make her afraid, sir."_

"Okay, but why? What for?"

_"For fun, sir."_

The Doctor paused before letting out a growl and throwing his communicator with such force that it hit a tree and cracked, falling to the ground in pieces.

"Doctor, what's happening to me?" Scarlett tried again. "Explain!"

"Inside your head, in the vision centres of your brain, there's an Angel," There was a slight crunching sound as the Doctor knelt down to sit in front of Amy and Scarlett. "It's like there's a screen – a virtual screen inside your mind – and the Angel is climbing out of it… and it's coming to shut you off."

If she wasn't panicking before, Scarlett definitely was now. She didn't want to cry in front of everyone – the only person there that had seen her in tears before was Amy – but at that moment, her tear ducts were betraying her.

"Then what do I do?"

"If it was a real screen, what would we do? We'd pull the plug. But we can't just knock her out, the Angel would take over!" the Doctor said, directing his conversation elsewhere.

"Then what? Quickly!" River urged.

"We've got to shut down the vision centres of her brain. We've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."

Glancing down at the med-scanner, River spoke again. "Doctor, she's got seconds."

"How would you starve your lungs?" he asked her.

"Uh, I'd stop breathing."

"Scarlett, close your eyes!" the Doctor said, turning back to the girl.

"No," Scarlett mumbled, using her little strength to shake her head slightly. "No, I don't want to."

"Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you, it's afraid! Do it! Close your eyes!"

She hesitated slightly, but when the Doctor nodded with a small yet reassuring smile, she complied, shutting her eyes like he wanted.

There was a beep, and River sighed in relief.

"She's normalising. You did it! You did it!"

"Sir? Two more incoming," said a cleric.

"Three more over here," another one added.

"Still weak," River said, in reference to Scarlett, "Dangerous to move her."

Scarlett hated not being able to see what was going on around her and with the help of Amy; she managed to sit up straight on the rock. She still didn't feel _great_, but compared to how she was before, she could run a marathon. "So, can I open my eyes now?"

"Scarlett, listen to me," the Doctor said and his voice sounded closer than it had before. "If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of... paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes."

"Doctor, we're too exposed here. We have to move on," Octavian tried.

The Doctor spoke again and Scarlett could tell he had moved away. "We're exposed everywhere, and Scarlett can't move, and anyway, that's not the plan."

"There's a plan?" River asked, placing a hand on Scarlett's shoulder. She jumped at first, not having seen her coming, but relaxed instantly once she realised who it was.

"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking. Right! Father, you and your Clerics will stay here, look after Scarlett. If anything happens to her, I'll hold each of you personally responsible, _twice_! River, me, you and Amy, we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is… a quarter mile straight ahead. We'll stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure Scarlett."

"How?" River frowned, sounding sceptical.

"I'll do a thing," he answered simply. Truthfully he had no idea what he was going to do, but he would get to that eventually.

"What thing?"

"I don't know; it's a thing in progress. _Respect the thing._ Moving out!"

Scarlett felt anxious about being left there without the people she trusted. She knew that the clerics wouldn't let anything bad happen to her if they could help it, but she would still feel a lot better if someone else stayed, too.

"Doctor, I'm coming with you," said Octavian, his voice being followed by crunching footsteps. "My clerics can look after Miss Watkins. These are my best men; they'd lay down their lives in her protection."

"I don't need you," the Doctor said, quite rudely in Scarlett's opinion.

"I don't care. Where Doctor Song goes, I go," Now, Scarlett may not have been able to see him but she could just imagine the look on his face at that moment. She'd like to think it was similar to the one he had on when he yelled at Bob earlier.

"What; you two engaged or something?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. Marco, you're in charge 'till I get back."

"Doctor… Please, can't I come with you?" Scarlett pleaded.

"You'd slow us down, Miss Watkins," replied Octavian.

"I don't want to sound selfish or anything, but you'd really speed me up," she retorted.

"You'll be safer here," the Doctor's voice said. "We can't protect you on the move. I'll be back for you soon as I can. I promise."

"You have a thing for saying that," Scarlett answered, remembering how he had left Amy for twelve years when he really intended to be gone for only five minutes.

"I always come back," he said, ignoring the slight pang in his heart at the thought of leaving Scarlett alone. "Good luck everyone. Behave. Do _not_ let that girl open her eyes! And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Scarlett, later! River, going to need your computer."

"Yeah," Scarlett mumbled, wishing she was able to open her eyes just so she could roll them. "Later."

Scarlett found herself fidgeting with her hands, just to give herself something to do instead of worrying about everything that was happening. Her hands froze in their ministrations suddenly when she felt a pair of warm, strong, yet slightly shaky hands grip her own. It took a moment for her brain to realise that it was the Doctor, and she relaxed slightly. _But wait, what just brushed against my hand? Is that a_ _jacket?_ Scarlett frowned._ I could've sworn the Doctor had lost his by the time he caught up with us earlier._

"Scarlett," the Doctor said suddenly and she could tell by the loudness of his voice that he was only an inch or so away from her. "You need to start trusting me. It's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth," Scarlett replied. "You tell Amy."

"If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

"Doctor… the crack in Amy's wall, how can it be here?" she asked. She could remember the first time she saw the crack. Beforehand, she would just tell Amy that it was probably made when the house was first built and settling into its foundation, but then she showed it to her and Scarlett told her to forget everything she had said prior to this event. Something about it just freaked her out. And Amy evidently felt the same… and she still did.

"I don't know yet, but I'm working it out. Now, listen. Remember what I told you when we first met?"

Scarlett frowned. "What did you tell me?"

The Doctor sighed in frustration and leaned closer, resting his forehead against Scarlett's. He had to get her to trust him. To remember him. "No, no… That's not the _point_. You have to remember."

"Remember what? Doctor?" Scarlett called. "Doctor?"

He didn't reply. Instead, he just pressed a kiss to Scarlett's forehead gently, before leaving her alone with the clerics.


	13. Walk the Walk

**Chapter Thirteen:**

It felt like hours had passed when in reality; it had only been around 20 minutes. However, from the perspective of someone who couldn't open their eyes in fear of dropping dead, sitting by yourself on a rock while nobody says _anything _to give you an indication that they're still there, 20 minutes is like an eternity.

"So, what's happening?" Scarlett asked, finally voicing her thoughts. "Anything happening out there?"

"The Angels are still grouping," Marco replied, his voice sounding distant. "Are you getting this too?"

"The trees?" asked a cleric, "Yeah."

"What's wrong with the trees?" Scarlett asked. Why are they talking about _trees _at a time like this?

"Here too, sir. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart," said another cleric, as if Scarlett wasn't there.

"And here. They're taking out the lights," added another.

"What is it? What's happening? Tell me. I can't see," Scarlett tried again, the last part sounding more like a growl than anything else.

"It's the trees, ma'am. The trees are going out," answered Marco.

Scarlett was trying her best to imagine what trees going out would even look like when the clerics spoke again.

"Angels advancing, sir."

"Over here, again."

"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it!" ordered Marco.

Scarlett jumped to her feet. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she could provide much help but she was getting so frustrated that she felt the need to do something. "What is it? What's happening? Just tell me!"

"Keep your position and, ma'am, keep your eyes shut!"

_Like I even have a choice in the matter, anyway. _Scarlett was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the clerics talk amongst themselves until she finally tuned back in.

"Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?"

"What? The Angels?" Scarlett frowned.

"This side's clear too, sir," another cleric confirmed.

"The Angels have gone?" Scarlett repeated. They wouldn't just leave like that, would they?

"There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running."

"Running from what?"

"Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that," he said.

His voice was followed by a crunching sound, as if the clerics were moving further away.

"What are you all looking at? What's there?" Scarlett asked anxiously, getting tired of being ignored.

"It's like, I don't know..." Marco said and Scarlett was sure that if she could've seen him, he would've been shaking his head in disbelief. "A curtain of energy, sort of shifting… Makes you feel weird, sick."

Scarlett nodded slowly. "And you think it scared the Angels?"

One of the clerics scoffed. "What could scare those things?"

He had a point. Scarlett hadn't seen those Angels become scared of anything and if the Doctor knew of something, she was pretty sure he would have used it already. Shakily, Scarlett turned on the spot, trying to find the source of the commotion.

"What are you doing?" Marco asked, and Scarlett felt his eyes on her.

"Point me in the right direction," she ordered.

"You can't open your eyes," Marco retorted.

"Not for more than a second, that's what the Doctor said. I've still got a bit of countdown left; I only got to three."

"Ma'am, you _can't_."

"I need to see it. I need to see what's making them so scared," Scarlett pleaded. "Am I looking the right way? I have to be quick."

"Very quick," Marco moved closer and placed his hands on her arms, turning her in a semi-circle so that she was facing in the right direction.

"Okay," Scarlett nodded before finally opening her eyes. She was met with the sight of a bright light, in the shape of the crack that she had seen many times before in Amy's bedroom wall. "It's the same shape! It's the crack in Amy's wall."

"Close your eyes. Now!" Marco urged.

"It's following her! How can it be following her?" The fear for her friend's life and her own, combined with her rapidly decreasing health became too much and she fell to her knees with only Marco holding onto her to keep her steady. He placed his hand over Scarlett's eyes and she closed them quickly, knowing that she had to obey the Doctor's previous orders.

"Are you okay?" Marco asked.

"Yeah… It was the same shape," Scarlett said weakly.

"Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?" A cleric asked.

"Go for it," nodded Marco. "Don't get too close."

"Hang on, what about the other two?" Scarlett frowned, remembering that two other clerics had already gone off towards the crack. "Why not just wait 'till they're back?"

Marco paused. "What other two?"

"The ones you sent before."

"I didn't send anyone before."

Scarlett shook her head, letting out a small scoff. The stress must have gotten to him. "Yeah, you did. I heard you; Crispin and Phillip."

"Crispin and who? Scarlett, there never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you."

She sighed in frustration. Was he even listening at all? "No, I heard you. Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip, and now you can't even remember them. Something happened. I don't know what, and you don't even remember!"

"Pedro?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, before you sent Pedro," Scarlett nodded.

"Who's Pedro?"

"Something's happening!" Scarlett told him. "Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him!"

"There never was a Pedro," he insisted. "There's only ever been the two of us here!"

"_No_, there were_ five_ of us. Why can't you remember?"

"Listen, listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close."

"No, you can't! You mustn't!"

"Here," he paused to press a communicator into Scarlett's hand. "Spare communicator. I'll stay in touch the whole time."

"You _won't._ If you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you!"

"There weren't any others!" Marco said again.

"There won't be any _you_ if you go back there!"

"Two minutes, I promise," said Marco before standing up and walking towards his inevitable death.

"Please, just listen to me!" Scarlett yelled after him, but he didn't reply. He was already walking off, leaving her alone in the clearing.

Scarlett sat by herself for a moment, trying to calm down her beating heart.

_Inhale, exhale. _

_Inhale, exhale._

_Inhale, exhale._

Two minutes had most definitely passed and Marco still hadn't returned. Lifting the spare communicator to her mouth, Scarlett spoke softly, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Hello, are you there? Hello?" No answer. "Hello?"

"I'm here. I'm fine," Marco's voice came from the speaker and Scarlett sighed in relief. "I'm quite close to it now."

"Then come back! Come back now, please."

"It's weird looking at it. It feels really..." His voice was cut off by the sound of static and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Really what? Hello? Really what?" There was no reply and though Scarlett knew what must have happened, she kept trying anyway. "Hello? Hello? Hello? Marco, please say you're there. Hello? Marco!"

Someone finally replied, but it wasn't Marco. It was the Doctor.

"Is that you?" he asked.

"Doctor?" Scarlett replied hopefully.

"Where are you? Are the clerics with you?"

"No, they've gone. There was a kind of light and they went towards it and… Doctor, they didn't even remember each other," she explained.

"No, they wouldn't," he replied before pausing to speak to someone – who Scarlett assumed was River – in the background. "Scarlett, I'm sorry. I should never have left you there."

"What do I do now?"

"You come to us," he said simply, "Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest."

"Doctor, that's not possible. I can't see!"

"Turn on the spot."

Scarlett frowned slightly, "Sorry, what?"

"Just do it. Turn on the spot," she obeyed and slowly climbed to her feet, turning hesitantly as the Doctor continued to speak. "When the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, you're facing the right way. Follow the sound."

Scarlett turned in a circle, listening to the familiar sound of the Doctor's screwdriver.

"You have to start moving now," he said, the panic evident in his voice. "There's time energy spilling out of that crack and you have to stay ahead of it."

"But the Angels, they're everywhere," Scarlett mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you."

"Well, that's reassuring," she replied, slowly starting to walk. "What does the Time Energy do?"

"Just keep moving!"

Scarlett sighed in frustration but obeyed his orders. "Just tell me!"

"If the Time Energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived _at all_."

"I sort of wish I hadn't asked now."

"You'll be fine as long as you can get to us, I promise. Now, keep your eyes shut and keep moving!"

Scarlett used her feet to check in front of herself for objects in fear of falling over, because she could assure you; walking with your eyes closed is not an easy thing to do.

"Scarlett, listen to me," said the Doctor after a few minutes of walking. "I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector. It'll beep if there's something in your way. You just manoeuvre 'till the beeping stops, because Scarlett, this is important… The forest is full of Angels. You're going to have to walk like you can see."

"What does that mean?" Scarlett asked weakly.

"Look, just keep moving," he said, clearly not wanting to explain any further.

Clutching onto the communicator tightly, Scarlett kept walking, and she could only hope that she was almost there. She felt like she was making good progress when a high-pitched beeping sound was heard.

"What's that?" Scarlett asked the Doctor.

"It's a warning. There are Angels round you now."

She froze. It was bad enough not being able to see, but now she was surrounded by Angels? She told herself not to panic but in this situation, it was the only thing she could do.

"Scarlett, listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. The Angels are scared and running and right now, they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see. Just don't open your eyes… Walk like you can see."

Scarlett shook her head even though he couldn't see her. She couldn't do this. It was like her fear had paralysed her whole body, leaving her frozen in place.

"You're not moving. You have to do this," he tried again. "Now." There's a banging noise as if the Doctor was hitting something in frustration. "You have to do this!"

Swallowing her fear, Scarlett started to move again, slower than before. There was a beeping noise and she turned back quickly to where she was_. Alright, so there's an Angel to my left. I'll just avoid that and I'll be fine_, she told herself. She continued forward for a few steps until she heard the beep again. Changing direction, she moved forward, wanting nothing more than to get out of there. Unfortunately, due to her panic, she tripped over a root and fell straight to the ground, dropping the communicator on the way. She extended her hands slightly and felt around in the dirt to try and find the only thing keeping her close to the Doctor at that moment.

"Doctor, I can't find the communicator!" Scarlett yelled, despite the fact that he wasn't with her. "I dropped it and I can't find it. Doctor!" She heard a sound behind her and it sounded like… stone. The Angels were moving and she couldn't see them. She couldn't keep walking because she didn't have the communicator to guide her. Tears sprang to her eyes and she slowly turned onto her back, only to fall into someone's arms a second later.

"Don't open your eyes," said a voice and Scarlett recognised it as River's. "You're on the Flight Deck, the Doctor's here, and so is Amy. I teleported you," she turned to the Doctor and smirked "See? Told you I could get it working."

"River Song, I could bloody kiss you!" he replied, causing Scarlett to frown. _Hello, girl fearing for her life over here!_

"Ah well, I don't think darling would appreciate that," River smiled.

_Who the bloody hell is darling?_ Both the Doctor and Scarlett thought.

Scarlett opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by an alarm blaring.

"What's that?" asked River.

"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means... the shield's going to release!" the Doctor explained.

Scarlett wasn't sure what was happening around her, but the Doctor's next sentence explained part of it.

"Angel Bob, I presume."

"The Time Field is coming," said Angel Bob. "It will destroy our reality."

"Yeah, and look at you all; running away. What can I do for you?"

"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why?" the Doctor asked.

"Your friends will also be saved."

"Well, there is that."

River carefully removed her arms from around Scarlett and – after making sure the young girl was steady on her feet – stepped forward. "I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in."

"Oh, be serious!" the Doctor practically laughed, "Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so, get a grip."

"Doctor, I can't let you do this," River said.

"No, seriously, get a grip," he repeated.

"You're not going to die here!"

"No, I mean it. River, Scarlett, Amy, get a grip."

There was a slight pause before River gasped in realisation, "Oh, you genius!"

She made her way back to Scarlett as the Doctor continued to speak to Angel Bob. "You hold on tight and don't you let go for anything," she explained before placing Scarlett's hands on a handle attached to the panel. Scarlett's fingers curled around the bar and she held on tight as the Doctor finished his speech.

"Night night."

* * *

Scarlett sat outside on a rock, a blanket draped over her shoulders and Amy sitting next to her. Scarlett adjusted her position and let out a slight groan at the pain. "Ah, bruised everywhere."

"Me too," the Doctor said from in front of the brunette, remembering how, after a few minutes of climbing out of the cave, she had given up and made him give her a piggy-back ride for the rest of the journey.

"You didn't have to climb out with your eyes shut!" Scarlett said.

"Neither did you," he explained. "I kept saying; the Angels all fell into the time field. The Angel in your memory never existed. It can't harm you now."

"I was scared," Scarlett told him.

"I know," he nodded, a look of understanding on his face.

"So why do I remember it at all? Those guys on the ship didn't remember each other."

"You're a time traveller now, Scarlie. Changes the way you see the universe forever. Good, isn't it?"

Scarlett smiled softly as Amy spoke up, "And the crack. Is that gone too?"

"Yeah, for now. But the explosion that caused it is still happening... somewhere out there, somewhere in time," he glanced out at the ocean before making his way over to River to say goodbye.

Amy and Scarlett talked for a little while about what they should do once they got back to the TARDIS, just biding their time until Doctor had finished, before walking over to River.

"Bye, River," smiled Amy.

"Goodbye honey," she smiled with a nod before her gaze turned to Scarlett. "Darling," her right eye dropped into a wink before a beep emitted from her handcuffs. "Oh! I think that's my ride."

"Can I trust you, River Song?" the Doctor asked from behind them.

"If you like… but where's the fun in that?" River let out a small laugh before she was teleported away.

A fond smile makes its way onto Scarlett's lips. She _really_ liked River Song.

"What are you thinking?" Amy asked the Doctor, who was looking out at the ocean.

"Time can be rewritten," he answered simply.

* * *

The Doctor was at the console, fiddling with the controls as Amy and Scarlett sat in the jump seat.

"I want to go home," said Amy.

The Doctor froze before nodding slightly. "Okay."

"She doesn't mean it like that," Scarlett smiled.

Amy nodded in agreement and jumped up to join the Doctor. "I just… I just want to show you something. You're running from River... I'm running too."

* * *

**A/N: Hello, hello!** **So I reached 50+ follows this week and that makes me very,very happy. Thank you to everyone who has read this story so far. It really means a lot to me. I actually made a tumblr for this story which is basically just a place for me to answer any questions you might have, or just to post edits that I make of Scarlett and co. If you're interested in checking it out, the URL is raggedywrites. Xx  
**


	14. Confrontations and Pillow Fights

**Chapter Fourteen: **

Once the TARDIS had materialized, they exited in single form; Amy, then Scarlett, and then the Doctor. They had landed in Amy's room at her request and Scarlett instantly felt at home. She had spent a lot of time there, after all.

Scarlett was proud of Amy for what she was about to do. Granted, she _did_ kind of talk her into it but if she didn't tell him now, she never would. And that wasn't fair. Not to her, and certainly not to Rory.

It was the same night they had left to go off gallivanting with the Doctor and everything was still the same. Scarlett's hairdryer lay on the ground near the bed along with the shoes she was wearing that same day. Amy's white wedding dress hung on the closet next to Scarlett's red maid of honour dress. They complimented each other well. Sort of like she and Amy.

"Well!" said the Doctor as he and Amy took a seat on the bed.

"Yeah!" Amy nodded, clearly amused at the Doctor's reaction. The poor thing looked baffled.

"Blimey!"

"I know. This is the same night we left, yeah?"

The Doctor glanced at his watch. "We've been gone five minutes."

Amy leaned over to grab a box from her beside cabinet and opened it to show the Doctor the ring perched inside. "I'm getting married in the morning."

Scarlett leaned against the outside of the TARDIS with her arms folded as the Doctor took the box from Amy's hands. "Why did you leave it here?"

"Why did I leave my engagement ring when I ran away with a strange man the night before my wedding?"

"Yeah," he answered simply.

"You really are an alien, aren't you?"

"Who's the lucky fella?" the Doctor asked.

"You met him," Scarlett spoke up.

"Ah, the good looking one? Or the other one?" he paused to mimic having a large nose and Scarlett snorted. She loved Rory but he was practically her older brother so she was allowed to tease him every now and then.

"The other one," Amy said, half offended and half amused as she hit the Doctor's arm playfully.

"Well, he was good, too."

"Thanks," Amy paused. "So, do you comfort a lot of people on the night before their wedding?"

Scarlett frowned. Why would _she _need comforting?

"Why would you need comforting?" the Doctor asked.

_Okay, that was weird. _

"Scarlett nearly died. She was alone in the dark and she nearly died. And the way you helped her, comforted her… it made me think."

Scarlett's frown deepened. _Oh, Amy, don't do this._

"Well, yes, natural. I think sometimes. Well, lots of times…" the Doctor rambled.

"About what I want. About… who I want. You know what I mean?" Amy pressed on.

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded. "No."

Scarlett smiled slightly at him. He was sweet when he was confused.

"About _who_…" Amy nodded her head slightly towards him. "I want."

"Oh, right, yeah… No, still not getting it."

"Doctor, in a word, in one very simple word even you can understand…" Amy dragged off as she practically climbed on top of him.

Scarlett's eyes widened and the Doctor pushed her away, climbing over to the brunette. "You're getting married in the morning!" he yelled.

Amy rolled her eyes, following him and pushing him back against the TARDIS. Scarlett stepped to the side, watching them closely. She was filled with anger, confusion and… what was that? It felt like jealousy but it couldn't be. It wasn't like she was in love with Amy or anything… so why was she feeling like this? Maybe she was just feeling this jealousy for Rory… Rory! How could Amy do this to him?

"The morning's a long time away. What are going to do about that?" She pulled down his braces and he immediately tugged them back up.

"Listen to me. I'm 907 years old. Do you understand what that means?"

"It's been a while?"

If this were any other situation, Scarlett probably would've laughed. But at that moment, she couldn't.

"No, no, no. I'm 907 and look at me. I don't get older, I just change. You get older. I don't, and this can't ever work," the Doctor tried again, pushing her further away.

"Oh, you are sweet, Doctor. But I really wasn't suggesting anything quite so… long term," she leaned in to kiss him and Scarlett involuntarily stepped between them, pushing her away herself.

"Amy!" Scarlett snapped. Her blood was practically boiling and it took everything in her to hold back.

"What?" she asked, her face the picture of innocence.

"Rory?" Scarlett questioned simply, and Amy's expression changed immediately.

"Oh, come on, Scar," she mumbled weakly. "Don't use that against me. It's the night before my wedding; I'm allowed to have a little fun!"

Scarlett frowned, shaking her head in disbelief at how utterly dense her friend could be sometimes. "Yeah, you're allowed to get drunk, eat a lot, and maybe hire a stripper, but you're not allowed to have sex with someone else!"

"But –"

"No buts!" Scarlett cut her off. "Rory is your fiancé and he's practically my brother. I won't let you do this to him, or to yourself. You know you'll regret this."

Amy opened her mouth to retort before closing it again, making her look like a goldfish. "No, you're right…" She looked down at the floor, ashamed, as if she were a child that had just got a telling off. Scarlett took a deep breath, feeling herself calm down a little. Taking a step closer to her, Scarlett reached out to take her hand.

Lowering her voice so that the Doctor – who had been watching everything with wide eyes – couldn't hear, she spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you," Scarlett was younger than Amy (only by a few months but still) and she had never yelled at her before; at least not to that extent. "I just didn't want you to do anything you'll regret, or to lose Rory. You two are perfect for each other."

A smile crept onto Amy's lips and she nodded slightly. "Yeah, I know. Thank you, Scarlett," She glanced up at the Doctor who immediately dropped his gaze, pretending he hadn't been listening to everything. "Can you meet me in my room? I want to talk to you about something." Scarlett nodded and, after giving her hand a gentle squeeze, Amy wandered back into the TARDIS.

Sheepishly, Scarlett made her way to the doors where the Doctor was standing, and they both walked into the console room together. Amy was already gone, presumably to her room like she had said.

"I'm sorry you had to hear me yell," Scarlett said to the Doctor.

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. "I think the whole thing was more embarrassing for me than it was for you."

Scarlett considered this for a moment before laughing. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Do you think we should maybe go pick him up?" the Doctor asked as he ran around the console, flicking switches and turning levers.

"Who? Rory?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Maybe it would do Amy some good… and the rest of us, now that I think about it."

"Yeah, I don't see why not. I do miss him and I'm sure Amy does, too."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at that.

"She just doesn't show it very well," Scarlett added, causing him to smile.

"Well, go on. She wants to speak to you, doesn't she?"

Now it was her eyebrows that were raised. "Oh, eavesdropping, were we?"

"No!" he answered indignantly and she folded her arms, just waiting until he broke, "Alright, maybe. I wanted to know if you were talking about me or not."

"Not everything is about you, Doctor dear," Scarlett grinned.

"Oh, you know that's not true," he replied with a grin of his own.

Scarlett rolled her eyes, and turned to leave when the Doctor spoke again. "By the way, I think you're going to look beautiful in that dress."

Scarlett paused. She hadn't realised he had even noticed her dress. He was so baffled by Amy's that she thought he was focusing solely on that. Clearly, she was wrong. Scarlett felt her cheeks heat up as a blush crept onto her face.

Turning round slightly to look at him, Scarlett smiled again, the gratitude evident in her eyes. "Goodnight, Doctor."

"Goodnight," he replied with his eyes sparkling.

* * *

After leaving the Doctor, Scarlett made her way to Amy's room. The TARDIS helped guide her there and she was extremely grateful. There was one time when she and Amy had tried to find the kitchen, and they ended up at the pool… Since then, the sentient time machine had been helping them through.

Raising her hand, Scarlett knocked on the door five times in a little pattern she and Amy had decided on when they were younger. It was how Scarlett knew Amy was outside her door, or how Amy knew Scarlett was outside hers. The door opened immediately and Amy grabbed her arm, pulling her in with a smile, "Finally! What took you so long?"

"I was just saying goodnight to the Doctor," Scarlett explained. "You're not angry with me, are you?"

"What? No. You were right, anyway. I was being a complete idiot and I'm glad you stopped me. But c'mon, that's not what I wanted to talk about," she grinned, pulling Scarlett down onto the bed next to her.

"Alright, alright," Scarlett laughed. "What is it, then?"

Amy looked at her for a moment before saying, "Are you in love with the Doctor?"

"What?"

"Are you in love with the Doctor?" she repeated.

Scarlett stared at her, thinking that at any moment she would start laughing and say it was a joke, or that Ashton Kutcher would burst out of her closet telling her she'd just been PUNK'd.

"How can I be in love with him?" Scarlett asked. "I barely know him."

"Alright, fine. Not love then. But you like him, yeah?"

"Amy, what are you talking about?"

"It's just… when you were telling me off earlier. You were angry, I could see that, but there was something else. It's like you were jealous. And you're definitely not jealous of the Doctor so it was directed at me, right? You were jealous because I was trying to snog him?"

"I was jealous for Rory," she reasoned, but even she knew how stupid that sounded. "I felt bad for him."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Oh, come on. Do you at least find him attractive?"

"Rory? Ew, no," Scarlett said before realising who she was talking to. "I mean, not 'ew'. He's lovely and very good-looking and all that, but he's one of my best friends. That's disgusting."

"Not Rory, you idiot," Amy laughed. "The Doctor; do you think he's attractive?"

Scarlett bit down on her lower lip as she thought. Did she think the Doctor was attractive? She wasn't sure. She supposed his hair was quite cute. She liked guys with hair long enough for her to run her fingers through. Not that she would do that to the Doctor or anything… And then there were his eyes. Scarlett hadn't noticed it until a few moments before, but when he was happy, they practically sparkled. Alright, 10 points for both hair and eyes. Now, his dress sense… It wasn't exactly what you'd expect a guy to wear but it sort of worked. If anybody else wore a tweed jacket with braces, Scarlett would've laughed and walked in the other direction but they actually kind of suited him. He may not be the conventional idea of good-looking but to Scarlett… yeah, he was.

"No," she lied.

"What do you think of his bowtie?" Amy asked.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at the question but answered it nonetheless. "I don't know. I think it's cool."

"Aha!" she said, jabbing a finger in her direction. "So you _do_ find him attractive!"

"What?"

"Nobody in their right mind would like that bowtie, but you do. I don't even like it and you saw what I tried to do out there."

"Alright, so I find him attractive. So what?" Scarlett asked.

Amy rolled her eyes at her friend's incompetence. "The first step is attraction. The second step is affection."

Scarlett grinned widely as Amy quoted… her. She had said those exact words to the ginger a few years ago when Amy came to her, freaking out over the fact that she had woken up and suddenly had the urge to snog Rory's face off.

"And where did you hear that?" Scarlett asked.

"From a very wise woman," Amy grinned, giving Scarlett's shoulder a small nudge before flopping back onto her bed. Scarlett shrugged and followed suit so that they were both lying on their backs, gazing up at the ceiling.

"You'll fall in love with him eventually and I'll be right there to say I told you so," Amy said, continuing our conversation.

"You think you know everything," Scarlett laughed.

"Well, I know that you don't usually trust people so easily, but you _knew_ that the Doctor would fix everything. Back when we saw that Angel on tape, you said the Doctor would save us. And you were right. I know that you believed in him before you had even met him and I saw how happy you were when he came back for us," Amy said and Scarlett nodded slowly in realisation. She was right. She _did_ do all of those things. "And I know that you get all hot and bothered when he goes all 'Trust me, I'm the Doctor'." She lowered her voice then in an attempt to mimic the Time Lord.

Scarlett burst out laughing at her miserable attempt and before long, Amy was laughing along with her. Scarlett clutched her stomach as Amy wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"We need to be quiet; he's going to hear us!" Scarlett said through laughter.

"This place is huge. He won't be able to," Amy replied with a grin.

"Are you joking? That man's got ears like a bat."

As if by magic, the TARDIS swung the bedroom door open, showing them the Doctor who was crouched slightly with his ear pressed to the wood, clearly listening in.

"Doctor!" Amy frowned, chucking a pillow in his direction as he wandered over to the pair.

"Sorry, sorry! I heard laughter and thought I was missing out," he replied sheepishly.

"That's no excuse," Scarlett answered, lifting an extra pillow and hitting him over the head.

"Oi!" he retorted, but his pout soon turned into a smile as Amy and Scarlett tugged him down onto the bed with them, pelting him with pillows until it dissolved into one big, messy pillow fight.

* * *

Half an hour later and Amy's room was covered in feathers that had fallen out of the now busted pillows. Amy and Scarlett lay next to each other, their chests rising and falling as they regained control of their breath. The Doctor lay at the bottom of the bed, his legs dangling off the edge.

"I think it's safe to say we dominated just then," Scarlett said to Amy who nodded in agreement.

"Oh, please. Don't get cocky!" the Doctor said. "I once won a pillow fight against James Dean, y'know."

"Oh, yeah, right!" said Amy sceptically.

"It's true!" pouted the Doctor.

"Nope, I don't believe you," Scarlett said.

"You should trust me you know," the Doctor said and Amy and Scarlett looked at each other with wide eyes, willing him to finish the sentence. "I'm the Doctor."

At his words, Amy and Scarlett dissolved into laughter once more, leaving the Doctor to look on in bewilderment.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, two updates within the same day. I just felt like this adventure has went on for long enough and now we get to bring in lovely Rory! I hope you're as excited as I am. Xx**


	15. La Serenissima

**Chapter Fifteen:**

Scarlett sat in the jumpseat, swinging her bare legs gently and watching Amy in amusement. Her friend was pacing back and forth while sneaking glances at Rory, who just so happened to be wearing a t-shirt with his and Amy's faces on it. Bless that boy.

"Oh, the life out there, it dazzles!" said the Doctor from below them. He was sitting in the harness seat underneath the clear floor, doing some (probably unnecessary) wielding work. "I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans..." The TARDIS experienced a small explosion and Rory glanced down nervously. "Oh! It's meant to do that," he shrugged before continuing his previous ramblings, "Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it _will_ tear you apart. So! I'm sending you somewhere, – well, technically, Scarlett and I are – together."

"Whoa!" said Amy, stopping in her tracks. "You mean like a date?"

"Anywhere you want, any time you want," the Doctor nodded, jumping out of his seat and joining them at the console. "One condition – it has to be amazing. The Moulin Rouge in 1890! The first Olympic Games!"

"The Boston Tea Party!" Scarlett added, causing the Doctor to spin round and point in her direction as if to say '_yes, that is quite amazing actually_.'

"Think of it as a wedding present," he continued. "Because, frankly, it's either this or tokens," he paused to glance at Rory's stunned expression and smiled smugly. "It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain."

"It's another dimension," said Rory.

"It's basically another dimens– What?" the Doctor frowned.

"After Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories; FTL travel, parallel universes," he explained.

"I'm impressed, Rory," Scarlett grinned.

He glanced at his friend sheepishly before turning back to the Doctor who looked like a child that had just had his ice-cream taken away.

"I like the bit when someone says, 'It's bigger on the inside.' I always look forward to that."

Sensing some upset, Scarlett gestured to Amy who nodded in understanding. "So, this date," she said, thankfully changing the subject and releasing some tension. "I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?"

"How about somewhere... romantic?" the Doctor asked before turning to set the TARDIS in motion.

* * *

When the TARDIS materialized, the Doctor ran to the doors, flinging them open in excitement. He ran outside and Scarlett followed quickly, eager to see where he had taken them now.

"Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!" he grinned.

"The City of Water! The City of Canals!" Scarlett joined in.

The Doctor grinned before spouting off more knowledge, "Impossible city. Preposterous city! Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding... constantly... just beautiful! Oh, you gotta love Venice. And so many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Ooh, that reminds me," he paused to look down at his watch and visibly relaxed. "1580. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for 145 years. Don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken."

"You owe Casanova a chicken?" Rory frowned, clearly feeling wary around the Doctor.

"Long story. We had a bet," the Doctor shrugged.

"Oh, you are most definitely telling us that story one day," Scarlett said, falling into step next to the Doctor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" yelled a man all dressed in black as he stepped out in front of them. Scarlett jumped back in surprise, causing Rory to bump straight into her back. She turned, mouthing a quick '_sorry_' before turning back to the official. "Papers, if you please; proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection."

The Doctor didn't falter. He simply pulled out his psychic paper and displayed it to the man. "There you go, fella. All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find."

The official's eyes widened before he fell into a deep bow. Scarlett furrowed her brow in confusion but decided to ask questions later. "I am so sorry, Your Holiness," said the man. "I didn't realise."

"No worries. You were just doing your job," shrugged the Doctor, looking quite smug at being called 'Your Holiness.' "Sorry, what exactly is your job?"

"Checking for aliens," the man explained and Scarlett tried her best to hold back a laugh. "Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them."

"Oh, that's nice. See where you bring me? The plague!" Amy said sarcastically, emphasizing her point with a slap to the Doctor's arm.

"Don't worry, Viscountess," said the official with a small bow. Amy sighed and nodded in quite a regal way. "No, we're under quarantine here, no-one comes in, no-one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri."

"How interesting," the Doctor said. "I heard the plague died out years ago."

Scarlett nodded her head in agreement. She studied history for both her GCSEs and A-Levels and she'd like to think she had learned a thing or two during her time. "It did. It started and died out in the 1300s."

"Forgive me, Principessa," he replied, causing her eyebrows to shoot up in surprise and the Doctor to clear his throat awkwardly. Princess? Oh, she could get used to this. "It hasn't died. Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled with bodies, she said."

"Did she, now?" the Doctor mumbled.

Rory reached for the psychic paper as the official wandered off to question someone else. The Doctor and Scarlett continued on as Rory said disgustedly, "According to this, I am your eunuch!"

"Oh, yeah, I'll explain later," Amy replied with a small smile.

* * *

"So, princess, then?" Scarlett asked; linking her arm through the Doctor's while grinning smugly.

"Princess of France. It's not that big of a deal," he muttered.

"Oh, come on, I'm just teasing. I quite like being called a princess. I'm very regal, y'know."

The Doctor scoffed, "Yeah, right."

"Oi!" Scarlett frowned, hitting his arm slightly harder than Amy had just moments before.

The Doctor just laughed as Amy and Rory caught up with them, leaning against a balcony to watch across the canal as a procession of girls with veils covering their faces walked out of a building. A man ran out of the shadows towards the girls and yelled, but his words weren't loud enough to be carried across the water to them. The scene ended abruptly with two guards pulling the man – who had fallen down – off of the ground and away from the girls.

"What was that about?" Amy asked as the Doctor turned to leave. Unfortunately, due to Scarlett's arm being locked with his, she got dragged along, too.

The Doctor pulled Scarlett along a passageway where the man they had just seen was walking.

He wasted no time and, after carefully letting go of Scarlett's arm, jumped onto the bottom step of a stairway. Scarlett leaned back against it with her arms folded and legs crossed as the Doctor asked, "Who were those girls?"

The man stopped and turned to look at them with a confused frown, "I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri School."

"We're new here," Scarlett replied politely.

The Doctor nodded once, jumping off of the step so that he was closer to the man's level. However, due to his height, he still managed to tower over the man slightly. "Parents do all sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion," he paused to lower his voice to a whisper, "So, why are you trying to get her out?"

Scarlett moved closer to the pair, eager to hear his explanation.

"Something happens in there. Something magical, something evil. My own daughter didn't recognise me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face... like an animal."

The Doctor smiled and put his arms around both Scarlett and the man's shoulders. "I think it's time we met this Signora Calvierri."


	16. The Library Card Incident

**Chapter Sixteen:**

The Doctor and Scarlett waited in the shadows, hand in hand, while watching the Calvierri School intently. The man they had just met – who introduced himself as Guido – had just set off, planning on creating a distraction so that they could sneak in and see just what happened to his daughter and the other girls.

"You have my daughter. Isabella!" yelled Guido, trying to push past the guards.

"You're not coming in, stop there!" the guards shouted, "We've told you..."

The Doctor took his chance and gave a small tug on Scarlett's hand, leading her sneakily past the guards and into a side door. The door shut with a small _thump_ and they made their way down some stone steps leading them into a chamber. On the wall facing them, there was a mirror.

"Hello, handsome," the Doctor grinned, walking immediately over to the mirror and checking his teeth.

Scarlett rolled her eyes playfully, letting go of his hand so that she could adjust his bowtie. He grinned, dropping one eye into a wink and checking his appearance in the mirror once more.

"Who are you?"

Scarlett started, spinning round quickly to see a group of girls dressed in white standing in front of them. The Doctor did the same, turning back to check the mirror quickly. They weren't visible. "How are you doing that?" He turned back to the girls. "I… am…" Back to the mirror. "… loving it!" And then finally, back to the girls. "You're like Houdini, only five scary girls, only he was shorter – _will be_ shorter. I'm rambling."

"I'll ask you again, signor, signora. Who are you?" the girls said again in unison.

"Why don't you check _this_ out?" the Doctor grinned, holding out a wallet that shows an ID with a photo of an old man.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Scarlett reached up to whisper in his ear, "Library card."

The Doctor glanced down at the wallet before putting it away in disappointment. "Of course, it's with… He's… I need the spare," he sighed, "Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen in…" he paused to glance back at the mirror. "Am I thinking what I think I'm thinking? But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless…"

"Doctor," Scarlett said, bringing him back from his reverie.

"Leave now, signor, signora, or we shall call for the steward… if you're lucky," said the girls.

"Ooh," the Doctor grinned, but his face fell as the girls hissed and opened their mouths, showing the pair their fangs as they advanced on them. His eyes widened and he grabbed Scarlett's hand, running towards a doorway.

"Tell me the whole plan!" he yelled back at them, causing her to cringe in desperation. Yeah, like _that's_ going to do any good. "One day that'll work. Listen, we would love to stay here. This whole thing… I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!"

"Doctor!" Scarlett said more urgently, before taking the lead and tugging him back up the stairs to safety.

By the time they got outside, it was already dark, and they didn't stop running until they bumped into Amy.

"Scarlett! Doctor!" she yelled.

"We just met some vampires!" the Doctor said excitedly.

"We just _saw_ a vampire!" Amy said back with just as much enthusiasm.

They both started to talk at once, their voices overlapping.

"And creepy girls and everything!" the Doctor said finally.

"Vampires!" added Amy and Scarlett couldn't help but laugh at their happiness.

Amy grinned and grabbed the pair in front of her, making them join her in jumping up and down excitedly until Rory finally caught up.

"We think we just saw a vampire," he said, slightly out of breath.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Amy was just telling us," the Doctor said, brushing him off.

"Yeah!" nodded Amy. "The Doctor and Scarlett actually went to their house."

"Oh," said Rory, deflated. "Right, well…"

"Okay, so," said the Doctor, slapping his hands on Rory's cheeks. "First, we need to get back in there somehow."

"What?" Rory practically yelled.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Back in where?" Rory tried again.

"Come and meet our new friend," Scarlett smiled, offering Rory her hand who took it willingly. As thrilling as vampires in Venice sounded, she didn't want Rory feeling neglected because of it.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows slightly at the sight of their intertwined hands but said nothing. He simply stuck his nose in the air slightly before leading the way.

* * *

When they reached Guido's house, he immediately laid out a map of Venice on the table for the group to ponder over. Amy and the Doctor sat around the table while Scarlett sat on top of it, her legs dangling off the edge. Rory sat a few inches away, on top of a pile of barrels.

"As you saw, there's no clear way in," explained Guido. "The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."

"You need someone on the inside," said Amy knowingly.

"No," replied the Doctor immediately, and Scarlett couldn't help but agree.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" she whined.

"We pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in."

"Oh," said Amy. "So you _do_ know what I was going to say."

"Are you insane?" asked Rory.

"We don't have another option."

"He said no, Amy. Listen to him."

"There is another option," said Guido, pointing in Rory's direction. "I work at the Arsenale. We build the warships for the navy."

The Doctor stood up, moving closer to the barrels and sniffing them, "Gunpowder. Most people just nick stationery from where they work."

Rory slowly slid off the barrels and backed away into a dead rabbit hanging by the fireplace. The poor thing couldn't catch a break.

"Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive," said the Doctor.

"What do you suggest, then? We wait until they turn her into an animal?" Guido frowned in reference to his daughter.

"I'll be there three, four, hours tops," shrugged Amy.

The Doctor frowned, shaking his head adamantly. "No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go," he took a seat on the bed with a sigh. "But I have to know. We go together. Say you're my daughter."

"What? Don't listen to him," snapped Rory. He'd be damned if he let Amy go into that place with no protection.

"Your daughter? You look about nine," Amy smirked causing Scarlett to laugh.

"Brother then," the Doctor shrugged.

"Too weird," said Amy and Scarlett hit her arm, knowing what she was about to say next.

"And no, he's not going to be your fiancé, either," she said.

Amy shrugged. They had always been pretty good at figuring out what the other person was thinking.

"I'm not having him run around telling people he's your fiancé!" Rory said.

"No, no, you're right," Amy nodded.

"Thank you," said Rory, letting out a small sigh of relief.

"I mean, they've already seen the Doctor. You should do it."

"Me?" he frowned.

"Yeah! You can be my brother," grinned Amy, ruffling his hair playfully.

"Why is _him_ being your brother weird, but with _me_, it's okay?"

"I'll go, too," Scarlett added, before any arguments could occur.

The Doctor – who had been smiling at Amy and Rory's interaction – turned his head to look at her. "No!"

"Why not? Amy's going and it would be safer if there were two of us." Amy and Scarlett had always been close and the idea of the former being in danger scared Scarlett. She would much rather she was there with her, if not to protect her, then to at least make her feel more at ease.

"No, I'm not having you go, too," said the Doctor. He openly refused to let that girl go there without him.

"But –" Scarlett started.

"The answer is no; a big, fat no."

Scarlett sighed, knowing he wasn't going to give up any time soon, "Fine."

"This whole thing is mental!" yelled Rory. "They're _vampires_, for God's sake."

"We hope," replied the Doctor, who had visibly relaxed since Scarlett had agreed with him.

"So if they're not vampires…" Amy dragged off.

"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire."


	17. Ultraviolet

**Chapter Seventeen: **

Scarlett sat between the Doctor and Rory in a gondola as Guido, who was dressed in Rory's clothes, guided them along the canal. They had just dropped Amy off at the Calvierri School and were giving her enough time to open the trap door before they entered.

"She'll be fine," the Doctor said, sensing Rory's unease.

"You can promise that, can you?" Rory snapped back. If anything happened to Amy, Rory wouldn't hesitate to hit the Doctor.

Frowning, Scarlett placed her hand over his in an attempt to provide some comfort, and he smiled gratefully. The Doctor's eyes flickered to their hands with a small frown and Scarlett realised that he was worried, too. Not quite as much as Rory, but he was worried nonetheless.

"He'll trust you, eventually. Don't worry," Scarlett whispered to him with a small nod towards Rory.

The Doctor nodded with a trace of a smile on his lips, grateful for a little bit of attention, and any kind of reassurance Scarlett could provide.

"We're here," said Guido after a few minutes of silence. The Doctor was the first one to climb out, followed by Rory.

When it came to Scarlett's turn, the Doctor held out his hand at the same time Rory did, causing them to turn and glare at each other. Scarlett sighed and shook her head at their childish behaviour before taking both of their hands and jumping out of the gondola with a little hop.

Taking a lit torch from Guido – who had decided to stay behind – the Doctor opened up the gate and Scarlett cringed at the loud creak that emitted from it.

"Right," said the Doctor when they were finally inside, "I'll go first. If anything happens to me, go back –"

"What happened? Between you and Amy? You said she tried to kiss you," Rory said.

The Doctor stopped when they reached a wooden door.

"_Now?_ You want to do this _now_?" the Doctor whispered.

"I have a right to know," Rory frowned. "I'm getting married in 430 years."

The Doctor swung open the door – still holding onto his torch – and they squeezed into a narrow passageway, slowly but surely making their way along.

"Look, she was frightened, the Doctor was frightened, and _I_ was frightened," Scarlett explained, staying close to two of her closest friends. "We almost died, but we survived and the relief of it all… so she tried to kiss him. But I stopped her – you're welcome for that, by the way – and afterwards, she admitted that what she did was stupid. So no harm, no foul, yeah?"

They continued on for a minute in silence before Rory spoke again.

"And you would've kissed her back?" he asked, jealousy seeping into his voice.

Scarlett rolled her eyes in exasperation as the Doctor shook his head.

"No, I would've kissed her mouth."

"Funny," said Rory, his face remaining impassive.

"Rory..." the Doctor stopped. "Rory, she tried to kiss me because I was there. It would have been you, it _should _have been you. That's why I brought you here."

Rory nodded – although he didn't seem any happier – as a strong gust of wind suddenly rushed down the tunnel, blowing out the torch and removing their only source of light.

"Can we go and see the vampires now, please?" the Doctor whispered before dropping the useless torch to the floor and setting off again, Rory and Scarlett following suit.

It didn't take long for them to reach the end of the passageway and when they did, the Doctor jumped to open up the grate, moonlight streaming down on them.

"Well, then, give me a boost," the Doctor said, turning to Rory. The younger man groaned before hoisting the Doctor onto his shoulders. He struggled for a moment before finally pulling himself up through the hole with a heavy sigh.

When Scarlett craned her neck back, she knew that he wouldn't be able to get up there without some help so she turned to Rory with a hopeful look in her eyes and when he saw it, he couldn't say no.

"Come on, then," he said, bending down slightly and feigning annoyance.

Scarlett jumped on his back with a grin and, with help from both boys; she managed to end up next to the Doctor who then reached down to pull Rory up. "There we are," he grinned before lowering his voice to a whisper, "Amy! Where's Amy?"

"I can't see a thing," Scarlett whined.

"Just as well I brought this, then," Rory smiled smugly, pulling out a miniscule torch from his clothes.

The Doctor turned, pulling out a long large torch from inside his jacket. "Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight," he explained.

"Yours is bigger than mine," said Rory, embarrassed.

"Let's not go there."

Scarlett snickered before shaking her head quickly to remind herself of the situation. "Is now really the time for penis jokes? Doctor, I would've thought you were better than that."

The Doctor – whose cheeks had turned red at the mention of the word 'penis' – shrugged apologetically, muttering a small "Sorry."

She rolled her eyes in response, flinging her arms around both of them and exploring the desolate room. "Can we just find Amy and get the hell out of here?"

"But if we cancel now, we lose the deposit on the village hall, the salsa band…" Rory dragged off in a sigh, clearly not wanting to change the subject.

"I still don't know why you couldn't just get a normal band," Scarlett muttered and luckily, he didn't hear. He was too busy following the Doctor over to a chest on the ground. Frowning at their sudden absence, Scarlett traipsed after them both, before jumping back in shock at the contents of the chest… and the smell. The smell was pretty bad.

"What happened to them?" Rory asked, taking in the skeletal remains.

"They've had all the moisture taken out of them," the Doctor explained.

"That's what vampires do, right? They drink your blood and replace it with their own," Scarlett noted.

"Yeah," nodded the Doctor, "Except they haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their bodies."

"Why did they die? Why aren't they like the girls in the school?" asked Rory, sounding more worried by the minute.

"Maybe not everyone survives the process," the Time Lord replied, looking sad at the mere thought.

Rory sighed in frustration before turning and pointing to the Doctor, all fright being replaced by anger. "You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks. It's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down," he spat. "Amy is in there and if you hadn't of stopped her; Scarlett would be there, too. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around!"

Before Scarlett had a chance to stop him from saying more, they were interrupted by voices speaking in unison.

_"Who are you?"_

"We should run," the Doctor stated the obvious as he held up the ultraviolet light. "Run!"

He didn't have to tell them twice. Turning quickly, Rory and Scarlett ran through the courtyard and down the corridor, the Doctor following them with the girls not far behind.

"Cab for Amy Pond?" the Doctor asked nervously as they ran into Signora Calvierri and two others. They turned, but the girls had approached from the other end of the corridor, blocking their escape.

"This rescue plan, not exactly watertight, is it?" smirked Signora Calvierri.

"Ha-ha!" the Doctor yelled, holding out the light to ward off the girls.

"Rory!" yelled an approaching Amy, with a young woman dragging behind. Scarlett assumed it was Isabella; Guido's daughter.

"Amy!" Rory replied.

"Doctor!" Scarlett shouted, hoping he would get the hint.

"Scarlett!" the Doctor answered with a grin, grateful for a little bit of comic relief.

"Quickly, through here!" Isabella yelled, leading them back the way they came to the underground stairs. The girls didn't hesitate, and followed immediately.

"They're not vampires!" Amy explained after a few minutes of running.

"What?" Scarlett asked as the Doctor paused to sonic the door closed behind them.

"I saw them, I saw her. They're not vampires. They're aliens!"

The Doctor laughed, "Classic!"

"That's _good_ news?" Rory practically shouted. "What is _wrong_ with you people?"

"Oh, Rory," Scarlett smiled politely, pausing to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder before answering his question, "so much."

* * *

**A/N: So, I wanted to ask you all a question; I was thinking of going back and changing this story into a third person's perspective, but I'm not entirely set on the idea. I think it would be a better way of getting everyone's thoughts and feelings across but I've never done that before so I'm still a little unsure. Opinions would be wonderful and as always; thank you for reading! Xx**


	18. Compatible Girlfriends

**Chapter Eighteen**

"Quickly; get out. Quick!" Isabella urged as she ushered the group out of a doorway to the canal where Guido was waiting. Once everyone was outside, she tried to follow, only to be stopped by a stream of sunlight burning her skin.

"Come on, run!" yelled the Doctor.

"I can't!" Isabella replied as she was dragged back inside forcefully.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he ran to the door, pounding it with his fists. It didn't last long, however, as the door came to life with electricity, causing the Doctor to spasm and fall down the steps to the ground.

"Is he dead?" asked Scarlett nervously as she watched Rory check his pulse.

"No, he's breathing."

Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief and knelt down to help Rory, while Amy looked back at Guido who then realised he would never see his daughter again.

* * *

"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you Sister of the Water?" asked the Doctor with a small smile as he sat on Signora Calvierri's throne. Scarlett sat perched on the arm, trying not to shift at the uncomfortable position.

"No, let me guess," said Signora Calvierri as she stepped closer, "The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?"

"I'll make you a deal. An answer for an answer. You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank... hence no reflection," the Doctor spouted off.

"Your question?" she asked, being much politer than Scarlett would have imagined.

"Why can we see your big teeth?" Scarlett asked.

Signora Calvierri laughed. "Self-preservation over-rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain."

"Where's Isabella?" asked the Doctor.

"My turn," she said. "Where are you from?"

"Gallifrey."

Signora Calvierri's eyes widened slightly. "You two should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum."

"Yeah, no, I'm not from Gallifrey," shrugged Scarlett. "I'm just an ordinary human."

"You're not ordinary; not you, not Amy, not Rory. You're all magnificent," said the Doctor to his companion before turning back to the matter at hand. "Now, why are you here?"

"We ran from the Silence. Why are you here?"

"Wedding present. The Silence?"

"There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost," Signora Calvierri explained.

If she wasn't killing innocent people, and if she hadn't bitten Amy, Scarlett would've felt sorry for her.

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?" the Doctor asked.

"And you can help me. We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?"

"Hm," said the Doctor as he stood up and faced the leader of the fish from space. Scarlett followed him, and stood close. "Where's Isabella?"

"Isabella?"

"The girl who saved our friend," Scarlett explained.

"Oh, deserters must be executed," she shrugged. "Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you? I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children," the Doctor joked.

"Carlo!" said Signora Calvierri, and a man – presumably Carlo – stepped forward. "You're right. We're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while _you_ philosophise."

"This ends today. I'll tear down the House of Calvierri, stone by stone." said the Doctor as Carlo put his hand against his chest to try and move him. "Take your hands off me, Carlo."

Carlo did as he said and instead, tried to move Scarlett. He grabbed her arm and when she resisted, dug his fingers tighter into her skin. Scarlett let out a gasp of pain, certain that he was going to leave a mark.

"Get your hands off her!" ordered the Doctor with ferocity in his voice, the kind that Scarlett had only ever heard when he was facing the Daleks. Carefully, he took Scarlett's hand and started to walk her to the door. "And you know why?" He asked, continuing his previous conversation. "You didn't know Isabella's name." The door opened and he repeated himself. "You didn't know Isabella's name."

"Open the gates," said Carlo and, once the gates were opened, the Doctor and Scarlett strode out.

* * *

"You're fine," said the Doctor, placing his sonic screwdriver in his pocket after examining Amy's neck, "Open wide."

Amy frowned in confusion but opened her mouth anyway. The Doctor then placed a sweet in her mouth, which only added to her confusion.

"Right, your turn," he nodded towards Scarlett and crouched down in front of her. "Turn your arm over." Scarlett sighed and shook her head. She really didn't want him to fuss over her.

"Doctor, I'm fine."

"No arguing. Do it."

They held eye contact for a moment before Scarlett gave in, and turned her arm over on the table. When the Doctor saw the deep red fingertip marks left on her skin, he outwardly cringed but said nothing. Instead, he just took a tub full of a strange liquid with a blue tint, and opened it up.

"What's that?" Rory asked, his nurse instincts kicking in.

"It'll take away the redness and hopefully numb the pain," the Doctor explained as he carefully spread the cream along Scarlett's forearm. It left a tingling sensation behind, but almost instantly, she felt the pain start to subside.

"Now," he continued as he put the tub away and took a seat at the table. "I need to think. Come on brain, think, think. Think! Think!"

"If they're fish people, it explains why the hate the sun," said Amy with a slight lisp due to the sweet she was eating.

"Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush," the Doctor replied, putting his hand over her mouth.

"It's the school thing I don't understand," Rory added.

"Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush," the Doctor repeated, placing his other hand over Rory's mouth.

"I say we take the fight to them!" Guido said enthusiastically.

"Ah, ah, ah!" said the Doctor.

"What?" he frowned.

"Ah!" he said again, nodding to Rory who rolled his eyes before placing his hand over Guido's mouth. "Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, and end up here, then she closes off the city and, one by one, changes people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it. Then what? They come from the sea, they can't survive forever on land, so what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city habitable... She said, 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race.' Bend the heavens... Bend... the heavens...," continued the Doctor as he moved his hands from Amy and Rory's mouths to their heads, forcing them to nod. "She's going to sink Venice."

"She's... she's going to sink Venice?" asked Guido.

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed," nodded the Doctor.

"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women. You need... blokes," said Rory, looking a little bit disgusted.

"She's got blokes," Amy said in a moment of realisation.

"Where?" Scarlett asked, her finger lightly brushing across the cream on her arm.

"In the canal. She said to me, "'There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water.'"

"Only the male offspring survived the journey here," concluded the Doctor. "She's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends. Ugh… I mean, I've been around a bit, but, really, that's... that's... Ugh."

There was then a loud clattering from the floor above and they all turned to look up at the ceiling.

"The people upstairs are very noisy," the Doctor noted.

"There aren't any people upstairs," replied Guido.

"I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?"

"Is it the vampires?" Rory asked.

"Like I said, they're not vampires. Fish from space," the Doctor corrected, holding up his torch.

There was a loud thump and the sound of breaking glass as more girls from the Calvierri School entered the room. There were even more outside the window. The TARDIS residents and Guido stood up quickly, startled. The Doctor brandished his ultraviolet light.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory frowned.

The girls at the window broke through the glass and the Doctor used the light to keep them back. He then used the sonic screwdriver on them, which showed the humans – and Time Lord – their true selves.

"What's happened to them?" asked Guido.

"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so... buxom." The Doctor commented before shaking his head, "Move. Come on."

Following his orders, Amy ran off, quickly followed by Rory, Scarlett, the Doctor, and then Guido.

The door opened and the group ran out, disturbing the chickens that were wandering around outside. Guido stopped, however, before closing the door and locking the Doctor out.

"Stay away from the door, Doctor," he ordered.

"No! Guido!" the Doctor yelled as he started to pound on the door.

"What are you doing?!" Scarlett asked, but she got no response.

"We're not leaving you! What are you doing?!" the Doctor tried again before his eyes widened.

"What? What is it?" Scarlett asked urgently.

"We need to move," he said simply before grabbing Scarlett's hand and pulling her quickly in the opposite direction. He did so just in time as, seconds later; they were thrown to the ground as the house behind them exploded.

* * *

**A/N: So, yes, I have changed the perspective of this story. Please remember that it took me a few days to change the chapters around and, although I have re-read each chapter multiple times, there may still be some small errors or pieces that I have missed. I hope you'll see past any little mistakes, and continue reading like the wonderful people you are. **

**One more thing, however; I'm currently experiencing some technical difficulties. As in, my laptop needs it's power pack and hinges replaced. Therefore, updates may be a little slower than usual until I can get it fixed. I hope you can understand! Thank you for reading, as always. Xx**


	19. Cheese and Biscuits

**Chapter Nineteen:**

"Up, up, up!" the Doctor said hurriedly as he helped Scarlett up off the ground, the debris from the explosion settling down around them.

When they finally caught up with Amy and Rory, people were shouting in the streets and running around in fear.

"Rosanna's initiating the final phase," the Doctor stated with a frown as smoke and vapour started to cover the sky.

"We need to stop her. Come on!" urged Amy, taking a step in the opposite direction.

"No, no. Get back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"You can't stop her on your own," Scarlett reasoned.

"We don't discuss this! I tell you to do something, Amy, Scarlett, and you do it!" he practically yelled.

The girls jumped at the sudden outburst and Amy stormed off, leaving the Doctor, Rory, and Scarlett behind. The latter frowned and, with one last disappointed look at the Doctor, followed her best friend. She hadn't realised that Rory's words had hit so close to home and she never thought he would actually do something about it.

"Thank you," said Rory with a relieved sigh before he ran after his fiancé and best friend.

"Yeah… you're welcome," the Doctor frowned.

* * *

"You're too late. Such determination just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom," said Signora Calvierri as she entered her throne room to find the Doctor.

"The girls have gone, Rosanna," he said.

"You're lying."

"Shouldn't I be dead? Hm?" the Doctor said somewhat smugly as Rosanna turned to leave. "Rosanna, please, help me. There are 200,000 people in this city."

"So save them," she shrugged before exiting the room.

* * *

Amy, Rory, and Scarlett were making their way down the street when their path was blocked by a soaking wet Francesco – who just so happened to be Rosanna's son.

"Both of you; run!" Rory said as he picked up some candlesticks, using them to make the sign of a cross. Francesco ignored him, and started to advance on both Scarlett and Amy. The two girls clasped hands and backed away slowly in fear. "This way, you freak! Don't! This...this... this way, you big, stupid, great... SpongeBob!" continued Rory. If they weren't about to get killed by a fish from space, Scarlett would have laughed at his poor attempt to be intimidating. "The only thing I've seen uglier than you is... your mum!"

Francesco stopped abruptly and turned to face Rory.

"Did you just say something about Mummy?"

Rory's eyes widened and he picked up a broom that was resting against the wall, and started to brandish it like a sword. Francesco wasn't fazed. He simply pulled out a real sword and advanced on Rory who blocked the attack with the broom.

Scarlett and Amy glanced at each other, as if they were creating a plan without using their words. With a nod, Scarlett turned to watch the fight. "Careful! Hit him! This way, bring him this way! Rory!"

Francesco sliced the broom handle then, leaving Rory defenceless. He stuck his sword through a hanging drape and Rory quickly dodged out of the way.

"Ugh! You stink of fish!" said Rory with a disgusted frown.

"Well, I'm hardly going to smell of cheese and biscuits," the fish from space replied viciously.

Rory then tripped and fell backwards onto the ground, hitting his head. Francesco leaped, changing form in mid-air, and landed on top of Rory. During the commotion, Scarlett and Amy had made their way up the stairs that were just behind them.

"Hey! Mummy's boy!" Scarlett called.

Amy didn't hesitate, and pulled out a compact mirror from her pocket, watching as Francesco exploded in the reflected sunlight.

"Oh!" frowned Rory, wiping the dust off of his clothes.

"That was lucky!" sighed Amy as Rory made his way up the steps to them. "Why did you make the sign of a cross, you numpty?"

"Oh, oh, right! I'm being reviewed now, am I?" he replied before he was cut off by Amy pressing her lips to his in a passionate embrace.

Although she had seen this happen many times before, Scarlett still scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Really guys?" she said, only to be ignored as they continued to kiss. After a few moments, Scarlett rolled her eyes good-naturedly and walked off, calling over her shoulder; "I'm gonna go help the Doctor. Join me when you're done."

* * *

"What did I tell you?" the Doctor asked when Scarlett ran into the throne room.

"I don't know. You say a lot of things; it's hard to keep up," she shrugged as Amy and Rory caught up with her.

"Get out!" he tried again, "I need to stabilise the storm."

"We're not leaving you!" Rory said.

"Right," the Doctor frowned as he made his way over to Rory, "So one minute it's, "You make people a danger to themselves," the next it's, "We're not leaving you!" But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets –" He was cut off as the ground started to shake and parts of the ceiling fell down, causing them all to fall the ground.

"What was that?" Scarlett frowned.

"Nothing," the Doctor shrugged as they stumbled back to their feet. "Bit of an earthquake."

"An earthquake?" Amy asked.

"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about them."

"No?" questioned Rory.

"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake," Rory's eyes widened as the Doctor continued. "Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator."

The Doctor then runs out of the room as Amy, Rory, and Scarlett each sit at the throne, pulling out as many wires as they can. They barely noticed the sparks that emitted from the chair as they were so focused on helping the Doctor. Once they were satisfied, they stood up; running outside as fast as their legs could carry them.

"There he is!" Rory shouted, pointing to the sky where the Doctor was scaling the building. The rain was pouring down fast, obscuring their view slightly.

"Oh God, what if he falls?" Scarlett frowned.

Neither Amy nor Rory answered. Instead, Rory simply pulled both his fiancé and best friend into his side as he cheered the Doctor on. "Come on!"

"Come on!" added Amy.

Scarlett's teeth sank into her lower lip as the Doctor fiddled with some type of device. He searched frantically before finding a switch, and flipping it off. The rain then stopped, the clouds cleared, and birds began to sing.

Relief washed over the three bystanders before they laughed and hugged each other tightly. The Doctor glanced down at the street as if he sensed their gaze and gave a small wave.

"You did it!" Rory shouted happily.

* * *

As the townsfolk started to clean up after the storm; Amy, Rory, Scarlett, and the Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS.

"Now, then, what about you two, eh?" the Doctor asked. "Next stop Leadworth Register Office? Maybe I can give you away."

"It's fine. Drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've –" started Rory.

"Stay with us," Amy said suddenly. "Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."

He turned to look at the Doctor expectantly.

"Fine with me," he smiled.

"Yeah?" Rory asked with a smile. "Yes, I would like that."

"And it's fine with me, too," Scarlett added. "Thanks for asking."

"Nice one. We will pop the kettle on," Amy grinned, throwing her arm around Scarlett's shoulders. "Hey, look at this, Scarlie. Got our spaceship, got our boys… Our work here is done."

With a laugh, they both entered the TARDIS, leaving Rory to scoff and say "We are not their boys."

"Yeah, we are," the Doctor corrected.

"Yeah, we are," Rory sighed.

The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and just as he was about to enter, paused suddenly.

"Rory, listen to that."

"What?" Rory frowned as he listened carefully. "All I can hear is… silence."

* * *

**A/N: So, yes, that was a** **crap ending and I apologise. I'm still experiencing those technical difficulties, so updates will be a little... all over the place, but I ****_will_**** do my best to update whenever I can. You can always check out the tumblr I made for this (raggedywrites) if you'd like, or just check out my contact information on my profile! Thank you for reading, and I'll see you soon with Amy's Choice! Xx**


	20. Modern Family and Upper Leadworth

**Chapter Twenty:**

Scarlett let out a relaxed sigh as she sunk into the couch in the TARDIS's TV room. After the whole 'fish from space in Venice' fiasco, the Doctor decided that they should all take a day or two off to relax and unwind. Naturally, the Leadworth group agreed wholeheartedly.

Amy and Rory had chosen to lounge in their room and the Doctor was doing God knows what, and so Scarlett decided it was time for popcorn and Netflix. After taking at least twenty minutes to choose what to watch – she eventually settled for Modern Family – Scarlett lifted up her bowl of popcorn and lay back, completely ready to watch the adventures of three of the funniest families on television.

_"Sir, please tell your wife to calm down."_

Scarlett laughed. She had just reached the point of the episode where Cam and Mitchell accidentally locked their daughter Lily in the car when she heard it. It sounded like… birds singing. After concluding that the noise was not, in fact, coming from the television, Scarlett frowned.

"Do you know where that's coming from?" Scarlett asked the TARDIS. She had been told many times by the Doctor that the TARDIS was, in fact, alive and sentient. The TARDIS gave a small hum in response, which Scarlett took as a no.

Sighing, she made to sit up, but her body fell back down instantly like it was made of jelly. This couldn't be possible. There couldn't be _birds _in the TARDIS. But when she tried to get up again to investigate, a huge wave of exhaustion fell over her and her eyelids started to close. The bowl of popcorn fell from Scarlett's hands and clattered to the floor as, a little further away in the TARDIS, the Doctor had collapsed over the controls, and Amy and Rory had passed out in their bedroom; Amy hanging off the bed and Rory on the floor.

Each of them had just expected a day of relaxation but instead, they were in for one exhausting adventure.

* * *

"Rory's going to kill us when he sees this mess," Scarlett laughed as she passed the mixing bowl to Amy.

"Yeah, well, he's going to be cleaning it up either way so I don't care," she shrugged, leaning over her pregnant stomach to look at the contents of the bowl.

Scarlett let out a laugh in response as she did her best to clear up some of the mess for Rory. She was just about to put the carton of eggs back in the fridge when Amy gasped and set the bowl down on the table.

"Amy? What's wrong?"

Instead of responding, the ginger clutched her stomach and yelled at the top of her voice. "RORY-Y-Y-Y-Y! Rory, it's starting!"

As if by magic, Rory then ran inside to find Amy eating batter from a bowl as Scarlett rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"False alarm," Amy shrugged.

"What?" Rory asked; his eyes wide.

"False alarm," Scarlett repeated.

"What?"

"Well, I don't know what it feels like. I've never had a baby before," Amy reasoned, feeding Rory some of the batter off of the spoon.

Scarlett smiled at the couple before a whooshing sound from outside caught their attention.

"Oh my God," Scarlett said.

"I know – leaf blowers. Use a rake!" Rory rolled his eyes.

"No, it's…" Amy said as she stood up and looked out of the window to see the TARDIS.

"I knew," she continued. "I just knew."

They each turned to smile at each other before Rory and Scarlett ran outside, leaving Amy to hobble after them.

"Rory!" said the Doctor as he stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Doctor," Rory grinned.

"And Scarlett! Hello, you," the Time Lord smiled, pulling them both in for a hug. "I've crushed your flowers."

"Oh, Amy will kill you," said Rory.

"Where is she?"

"She'll need a bit longer," Scarlett told him.

"Whenever you're ready, Amy," he called as she stumbled out of the house, "Oh, wahey! You've swallowed a planet!"

"I'm pregnant," she frowned.

"You're huge!"

"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

"Look at you! When worlds collide."

"Doctor, she's pregnant," said Scarlett.

"Oh, look at you lot. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit. Apart from age and," he paused to glance at Amy's stomach, "size."

"Good to see you, Doctor," Amy smiled.

There was a slight pause before the Doctor said, "Are you pregnant?"

Scarlett laughed and shook her head as Rory rolled his eyes.

"Come on then," said the English man before leading the way down a village lane.

"Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever," said the Doctor sarcastically.

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually," Rory said, as if that were any better, "We've gone slightly upmarket."

"Where is everyone?" asked the Doctor.

"This is busy," Amy said before adding, "Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90's."

"Well, don't let that get you down," he shrugged.

"It's not getting me down," she replied.

"It's getting me down," Scarlett mumbled as her friends sat down on a bench, leaving no room for her. With a dramatic sigh, Scarlett decided to make do with what she had, and perched herself on top of them. She was sitting on one of the Doctor's legs and one of Rory's.

"I wanted to see how you were," said the Doctor as he wrapped an arm around Scarlett's waist to keep her upright. "I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of the Doctor so easily."

"You came here by mistake, didn't you?" Scarlett asked.

"Yeah, bit of a mistake," he admitted, "But look, what a result. Look at this… bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?"

Scarlett snickered as the group just sat there; bored with nothing to say.

"So," the Doctor tried again, "What do you do around here to stave off the, you know –"

"Boredom?" asked Amy as the Doctor opted for "Self harm."

Scarlett's laugh grew louder and Rory did his best to speak over it.

"We relax," he said. "We live, we listen to the birds."

"Yeah, see? Birds. Those are nice," said Amy, though anyone could hear the doubt in her voice.

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days," said Rory as the birdsong around them grew louder.

"Oh, blimey. My head's a bit…" said the Doctor as drowsiness fell over all of them. "No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good… old… days."

As soon as the last word had left his lips, the group fell asleep instantly on the cold, hard bench.

* * *

Scarlett's eyes snapped open and she found herself back in the TARDIS in the TV room with her popcorn splattered all across the floor. Modern Family was still playing as if she had been watching it the entire time. Shaking her head, Scarlett stood up quickly and made her way to the console room, set on asking the Doctor what had just happened.

When she met up with him, Amy and Rory had just entered.

"What? No, yes, sorry, what?" the Doctor said to nobody in particular. "Oh, you're all okay. Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you lot. That was scary. Don't ask; you don't want to know. You're safe now," he sighed in relief before pulling the two girls into a hug.

"Oh, okay," said Amy in confusion.

"That's what counts. Blimey, never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console?" the Doctor continued as he examined the console. "Red flashing lights... I bet they mean something."

"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing," said Rory, much to Scarlett's surprise.

"Yeah, so did I," added Amy.

"And me," nodded Scarlett.

"Not a nightmare, though, just… we were married," Rory said to Amy.

"Yeah, in a little village."

"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant."

"Yeah, I was huge," nodded Amy. "I was a boat. And Scarlett lived next door."

"And we were baking and you said Rory would clean up the mess," Scarlett frowned. How could they all have had the same dream?

"You what?" Rory said, looking somewhat offended before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "So, you both had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?"

"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy said forcefully.

"And Doctor, you were visiting," Rory quickly said, clearly not wanting to offend Amy any further.

"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage."

"How can we have had the same dream?" Rory asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"And you had a nightmare about us," Scarlett turned to the Doctor. "What happened to us in the nightmare?"

"It was similar, in some aspects," said the Doctor, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Which aspects?" she asked.

"Well, all of them."

"You had the same dream," Amy noted.

"Basically," he shrugged.

"You said it was a nightmare," Rory pointed out.

"Did I say nightmare? No. More of a really good... mare. Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track," the Doctor rambled as the birdsong was heard overhead. "Forget it; we're back to reality now."

"Doctor, if we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?"

"Yeah, the same birds," nodded Scarlett.

"The same ones we heard in the…" Rory said before he woke up again on the bench in Upper Leadworth, "dream."

Scarlett's head was on the Doctor's shoulder and Rory's head was on Scarlett's.

"Oh, sorry," Rory continued as he pulled his head away, "Nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS," the Doctor gently nudged Scarlett off of his lap and stood up, dragging her along with him as Rory continued to speak. "You had the same dream, didn't you?"

Amy nodded, "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?"

"But we thought this was the dream," Rory frowned.

The Doctor continued to walk, picking up a small stone from the path before throwing it back onto the ground.

Amy and Rory stood, catching up with the Doctor and Scarlett.

"Why do dreams fade so quickly?" Amy sighed.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Scarlett asked.

"Is this because of you?" Amy continued. "Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel," the Doctor said.

"But we're awake now," Rory replied.

"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS, too," he retorted.

"But we're home," Amy said as she looked around.

"Yeah, you're home," nodded the Doctor. "You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, Scarlie, which is which? Are we flashing forwards… or backwards?" As he spoke, Amy and Rory joined hands and, instinctively, the Doctor grabbed Scarlett's tightly. "Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one."


	21. Cheap Tricks

**Chapter Twenty One**

Scarlett awoke with a start, back on the TARDIS, as the Doctor ran frantically around the console.

"This is bad. I don't like this," he frowned before giving a harsh kick the console furiously. "Ugh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case – _always_ use force!"

"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked.

"I threw it into a supernova," the Doctor replied.

"You threw the manual into a _supernova_?" Amy said incredulously, "Why?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and ran down the stairs to check on the console, "Because I disagreed with it. Stop talking to me when I'm cross!"

"Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory asked in an attempt to understand what was happening.

"If we _were_ dreaming of the future," the Doctor answered as he climbed back up the stairs.

"Of course we were," said Amy as if were the most normal thing in the world. "We were in Leadworth."

"Upper Leadworth," Scarlett corrected. She really didn't want that to be her future.

"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this," the Doctor said, getting more frustrated by the minute. "Don't you get it?"

Truthfully, no, Scarlett didn't get it. Her head was starting to hurt from all this dream-hopping and she just wanted to know for sure what was real and what wasn't.

"No," Amy shook her head, "No. This is real. I'm definitely awake now."

"And you thought you were awake when you were all… elephanty," the Doctor said with a weird gesture of his hands.

"Hey!" Amy frowned, stepping forward threateningly, "Pregnant."

"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. I told you; trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true," he explained.

"Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside," Rory started.

"With a bow-tie wearing alien," Amy continued.

"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple," Scarlett finished.

The Doctor paused, "Valid point."

That was when the TARDIS started to power down, leaving the room in darkness.

"What just happened?" asked Scarlett with a frown. She may not know much about the ways of the TARDIS, but she was pretty sure that this was bad… Very bad.

"It's dead," the Doctor explained, looking deflated, "We're in a dead time machine."

The brunette stepped closer to her friend and spoke quietly so that Amy and Rory couldn't sense her fear, "What? So we're stuck here?"

"No!" He replied and Scarlett sighed in relief, "We just can't move anywhere."

The relief Scarlett had felt was brief, and her eyes widened at the news. "So we _are _stuck!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by sound of birdsong. Rory instinctively walked over to Amy and took her in his arms while Scarlett began to fall against the console.

"Remember," the Doctor said while fighting to keep his eyes open, "This is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."

"It is real. I know it's real," said Amy before they all fell into the land of sleep once again.

* * *

When they woke up, Amy and Rory were sat in a bench outside of the library, while Scarlett was on the ground next to them. The Doctor was already standing, watching some schoolchildren pass by.

"Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one," Amy said as she rubbed her pregnant stomach, "It's all solid."

"It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it," explained the Doctor while he waved his fingers in front of his face.

"What are you doing?" Rory said with a raised eyebrow as he helped Scarlett up off of the ground. Amy was in no state to do so herself.

"Looking for motion blur, pixilation," he said, voicing his thoughts. "It could be a computer simulation… I don't think so, though."

"Hello, Doctor," interrupted a woman passing by with a smile.

"Hi," replied the Doctor at the same time Rory said "Hello."

The Doctor immediately frowned, turning to look at Rory, "You're a doctor."

"Stating the obvious," Scarlett said.

Rory nodded, "Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."

"A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed… How interesting," the Doctor said before turning and walking away.

With slight frowns, the Leadworth trio followed quickly. Or as quickly as a pregnant woman and her two friends could go.

"What is?" asked Rory.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby," he replied. "Maybe this is your dream."

Scarlett cleared her throat not-so-subtly. "And his dream best friend."

"It's Amy's dream, too," Rory said in response to the Doctor, "Isn't it Amy?"

"Yes," she said a little too quickly, "'Course it is, yeah."

The Doctor eyed her sceptically before pointing over his shoulder, "What's that?"

"Old people's home," shrugged Scarlett.

"You said everyone here lives to their 90's. There's something here that doesn't make sense…" the Time Lord smiled, "Let's go and poke it with a stick."

The Doctor headed off and Rory and Scarlett followed behind with a groan.

"Oh," frowned Amy with her hands on her back, "Can we _not_ do the running thing?"

* * *

"Oh, hello, Dr. Williams," smiled a resident of the old people's home when the group entered.

"Hello, Rory, love," added Mrs. Poggit.

"Hello, Mrs. Poggit," Rory grinned, "How's your hip?"

"A bit stiff," she replied with a small frown.

"Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus… No, you don't have that yet, forget that," the Doctor rambled. The group just chose to ignore him.

"Who's your friend? A junior doctor?" Mrs. Poggit asked.

A small smile graced Rory's lips, as if he were a little bit smug that he was above the Doctor's status for once, "Yes."

"Can I borrow you?" the old woman said to the Doctor, "You're about the size of my grandson."

Reluctantly, the Doctor kneeled down in front of Mrs. Poggit as she pulled a jumper over his head, much to the group's amusement, "Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out," the Doctor leaned forward, forcing Mrs. Poggit to sit back in confusion, "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"

"Doctor, don't be rude," Scarlett frowned.

Her frown only deepened as the birdsong started once more, and the Doctor, Scarlett, Amy, and Rory all fell to the floor, asleep.

* * *

"Okay, I hate this, Doctor, stop it," Amy frowned as they all picked themselves up off the ground of the TARDIS, "Because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one… I keep saying that, don't I?"

"It's bloody cold," Scarlett noted, wrapping her arms around herself as the temperature continued to drop.

"The heating's off," the Doctor explained.

"The _heating's off_?" Rory repeated.

"Yep. Put on a jumper," he said as he wandered around the TARDIS, "That's what I always do."

"Yeah, sorry about Mrs. Poggit," Rory shrugged, "She's so lovely though."

"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."

"What do you mean 'act'?" Amy asked him. Was he really suspecting a little old lady?

"Everything's off; sensors, core power," said the Doctor instead of replying to Amy's question, "We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, some_thing_ is overriding my controls!"

"Well, that took a while," said a voice from behind. Startled, the group turned to find a strange man standing at the top of the steps. He was short, had a receding hairline, and was a little on the heavier side. He was wearing a bowtie (Scarlett couldn't help but think the Doctor suited them so much more than he did), a striped shirt, and a tweed jacket. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm… Him in the bowtie."

Scarlett took a hesitant step forward, eager to find out who this man was and how he got into the TARDIS, but the Doctor held her back.

"How did you get into my TARDIS? What are you?" he asked, eyeing the intruder cautiously.

"What shall we call me?" the mysterious man pondered, "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me… the Dream Lord."

"Nice look," the Doctor commented.

"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bowties?" the Dream Lord scoffed.

Carefully, the Doctor pulled a scrunched up piece of paper out of his pocket and threw it at the Dream Lord. Instead of hitting the man and falling straight to the ground, it passed through him, as if he wasn't really there.

"What?" Scarlett mumbled in confusion.

"Interesting," the Doctor said.

"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord – it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there," the Dream Lord disappeared for a moment, only to reappear behind them, "And yet, very much here."

The TARDIS residents turned once more to face him.

"I'll do the talking, thank you," said the Doctor, stepping in front of his friends to protect them, "Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"

Amy looked surprised that the focus was on her, but answered nonetheless, "Uh, Dream Lord. He creates dreams."

"Dreams, delusions," the Doctor added.

"Cheap tricks?" Scarlett offered. She had a bad feeling about this 'Dream Lord'.

"And what about the gooseberry here; does he get a guess?" the Dream Lord asked, in reference to Rory. "Or are you going to let your girls have all the glory? Tell me, Doctor; are they going to get a nice little treat for being right? Or are you reserving those for this one?" he ended his question with a gesture towards Scarlett.

_He's trying to make the Doctor angry,_ Scarlett thought. _Cheap trick indeed._

"Listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor," said Rory defensively.

"Well now, _there's_ a delusion I'm _not _responsible for."

"No, he is," Rory said, desperation slipping into his voice, "Isn't he, Amy?"

"Oh, Amy," sighed the Dream Lord, "Scarlie."

"Shut up," Scarlett said, though her voice came out quieter than intended. She didn't want some stranger calling her by a nickname that meant so much to her. That was reserved for close friends only. Amy placed a hand on her lower back reassuringly.

"You two have to sort your men out. _Choose_, even," he continued, the last part being directed mainly towards Amy.

"I _have _chosen," Amy snapped back, "Of _course _I've chosen." There was an awkward silence as Rory glanced nervously at his fiancé. With her eyes never leaving the Dream Lord, Amy reached out and smacked Rory's chest. "It's you, stupid!"

Rory let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, good, thanks."

"You can't fool me," the Dream Lord continued, barely batting an eyelid at the scene in front of him. "I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply… or a real face."

The Doctor stepped forward then. "Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?"

"Me?" the Dream Lord practically scoffed, "Oh, you're on shaky ground."

"Am I?" he questioned.

"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student... I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are."

"Just shut up!" Scarlett said, a little louder than before. When all eyes turned to her, she did her best to keep up her brave front, "Just stop talking to him like that." First he insulted Rory, then he provoked Amy, and now he was talking down to the Doctor? She wouldn't allow it. She just wanted him to leave.

"My, my, Doctor. Didn't you know that guard dogs should be kept on a leash?" the Dream Lord asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't talk about her like that!" the Doctor growled. How dare this man just saunter into _his_ TARDIS, copy _his_ clothes, and insult _his_ companions? Especially Scarlett. The Time Lord wasn't sure why, but he felt an overwhelming urge to protect the brunette, more so than usual. Maybe it was because she was the youngest, or maybe it was because Amy and Rory had each other; he didn't know for sure, but he was planning on sticking by his instinct.

The Dream Lord simply ignored him and disappeared once more, only to show up again on the upper level of the sentient time machine. "Now, where was I?"

"You were –" started Rory, as helpful as always.

"I know where I was," he said condescendingly. "So, here's your challenge: Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger... But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep," he continued speaking, even as the group started to fall to the ground, fatigue taking over them. "Oh! Or are you waking up?"

* * *

**A/N: So, 80 followers is so incredible (at least to me) and incredibly surprising. I never thought anybody would be interested in this story but I am so happy that you are. Now, I was planning on having the Dream Lord put Amy and Scarlett in their own little reality but I'm not entirely sure on what the danger could be... Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out. Anyways, thank you once again for reading and I'll see you soon! Xx**


	22. The Rooks

**Chapter Twenty Two**

When the group woke up, the first thing they saw was the carpeted floor of the old people's home that they had fallen asleep on. Frowning, they clambered to their feet, just as a familiar man walked into the room.

"Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray," he said, holding up the X-ray film, "Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through _you_, Doctor."

"You know each other?" Scarlett frowned before Amy asked, "Always? What do you mean always?"

"Now then, the prognosis is this," the Dream Lord continued, ignoring the girls previous questions, "If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality; healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me happens if you die in reality?"

Neither of them said a word except for Rory, who unknowingly took the bait, "What happens?"

"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality," came the brash reply.

"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy tried again, "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"

"Now don't get jealous," the Dream Lord smirked, "He's been around, our boy. Never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning." And with that, he disappeared once more.

"Okay, I don't like him," Rory said simply. The more than obvious remark was enough for a small smile to make its way onto Scarlett's lips as she was highly amused by her friend's choice of words.

"Who is he?" Amy questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

"I don't know, it's a big universe," the Doctor replied, easily evading the question.

"Then why is he doing this?" Scarlett asked.

"Maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel," the Doctor said, peeling off the hideous jumper that Mrs. Poggit had made him try on and throwing it onto the floor.

"What does he mean; deadly danger?" Rory shrugged, "Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."

As he was speaking, the Doctor had started to gaze around the room until it finally hit him. Something was wrong here. Something was very, very wrong.

"They've all gone…" he mumbled before running outside, leaving his friends to follow behind quickly.

"Why would they leave?" Scarlett frowned when she caught up with the Doctor. He was gazing out at a group of children, who were in the playground with their teacher.

"And what did you mean about Mrs. Poggit's nice old lady act?" asked Amy.

"One of my tawdry quirks; sniffing out things that aren't what they seem," the Doctor answered. "So come on, let's think. The mechanics of this split we're stuck in... Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams."

"And we're dreaming the same dream at the same time," Rory added.

As the boys continued bouncing ideas off of each other, Scarlett slowed her gait down so that she could stroll at a leisurely pace next to Amy. After all, she _was _pregnant, and Scarlett knew that if that were her, she wouldn't appreciate all the constant running.

"Yes, sort of communal trance; very rare, very complicated," continued the Time Lord, "I'm sure there's a dream giveaway. But my mind isn't working because this village is _so dull_! I'm slowing down, like you lot have."

"Oi!" Scarlett scolded.

"Watch this," Amy whispered, causing Scarlett to frown. _Watch what? _She didn't get a chance to ask, however, as Amy had already bent over with her hands on her stomach. _"_Oh, ow! No, really; Ow! It's coming!"

_Oh,_ Scarlett thought, _watch _that.

"Help her, you're a doctor!" said the Doctor, turning to Rory.

"You're a doctor!" Rory retorted.

"You're both doctors!" Scarlett pointed out, making sure to play along with Amy's game.

"It's okay; we're doctors!" the Time Lord agreed, squatting down on the ground and putting his hands out, as if he were going to catch the baby as it fell out, "What do we do?"

Finally deciding that that was enough, Amy regained her composure and stood up straight, "Okay, it's not coming."

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly as he stood up, "What?"

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?"

"Sorry."

"Yeah," Amy narrowed her eyes at the older man before turning and walking off, closely followed by the father of her child.

"Good one, Ames," Scarlett grinned, which caused the Doctor to pout at her grumpily in response. Rolling her eyes, she gave the Doctor's cheek a patronising pat before taking off after her friends who had found themselves at a swing set.

Amy took a seat and, before either Rory or Scarlett could even blink, the Doctor sat on the swing next to her. Rory rolled his eyes before moving to stand behind his wife, while Scarlett looked down at the Doctor with a pleading look. The Time Lord sighed, feigning annoyance despite the small grin on his face, and patted his lap. Scarlett smiled in response, plonking herself down on his lap carefully. She made sure not to put all of her weight on him but relaxed nonetheless. Oh, how she loved the swings.

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor spoke up as he swung the swing ever-so-slightly.

"I have to be this size, I'm _having a baby_," Amy replied irritably.

"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no…" He paused to shake his head as a small smile spread across his lips, "Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail? You girls hold him down and I'll cut it off?"

Scarlett snorted, Amy laughed, and Rory just looked offended.

"This coming from the man in the bowtie," he retorted.

"Bowties are cool," the Doctor shrugged before giving Scarlett a small pat as a signal for her to stand up. She did as he requested and watched as he turned to look at Mrs Poggit. "What's she doing? What does she want?"

Scarlett opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the oh-so-familiar birdsong.

"Oh, no," Amy whined, "Here we go."

* * *

"It's freezing in here," Scarlett frowned as she, Amy, and Rory joined the Doctor at the TARDIS console.

"Yeah, have you got any warm clothing?" Amy asked as she rubbed her arms in an attempt to keep warm.

"What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to!" the Doctor snapped causing the girls to flinch slightly in shock, "Sorry," he sighed. "Sorry. There should be some stuff down there, have a look."

Amy nodded, frown still in place, and took Scarlett's arm, leading her away from the Doctor. After a moment and with one final glare at the older man, Rory followed them.

"I want the other life," said Rory when he found the pair rummaging through boxes. "You know, where we're happy and settled and about to have a baby."

"But don't you wonder; if that life is real, then why would we give up all this? Why would anyone?" Amy pondered.

"Because we're going to freeze to death?"

"The Doctor will fix it," Scarlett joined in, passing a blanket to Rory and feeling slightly awkward for interrupting their conversation.

"Okay," Rory agreed before turning to his fiancé and wrapping her in a blanket, "Because we're going to get married?"

Amy laughed, "But we can still get married someday."

Rory's face fell, "You don't want to anymore? I thought you'd chosen me, not him."

"You're always so insecure," Amy said, rolling her eyes.

"My fiancé and my best friend ran away with another man."

"Not in _that_ way," Amy replied.

"It was the night before our wedding."

"We're in a time machine. It's the night before our wedding for as long as we want."

Clearing her throat slightly, Scarlett picked up a blanket or two before making her way back up to the console.

"We have to grow up eventually," Rory continued.

"Says who?" Amy asked before grabbing some extra blankets and following Scarlett. Rory joined them slowly.

"Ah, Rory, wind," said the Doctor as he gave Rory something that looked like a whisk. Turning to Amy, he gave her a wire. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please?"

"I was promised amazing worlds," Rory frowned. "Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen wind-up device."

"It's a generator. Get winding."

"It's not enough!" Amy sighed.

"Rory, wind!" Scarlett urged.

Rory frowned but began to wind the device. "Why is the Dream Lord picking on you? Why us?"

Nobody answered as the monitor finally came to life.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"We're in trouble," the Doctor answered.

"What is that?" Scarlett asked in reference to the image on screen.

"A star. A cold star," the Doctor ran over to the TARDIS doors and flung them open, letting in a blinding light. "This is why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. That's our danger for this version of reality." He closed the doors and made his way back to the group.

"This must be the dream. There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn," Amy reasoned.

"So's this one. It's just burning cold," the Doctor shrugged.

"Is that possible?" Rory asked.

"I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?" he sighed in response, taking a seat next to the console.

"Okay, this is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?"

"I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

"Because you know how to get us out of this?" Rory said hopefully.

"Because we'll have frozen to death," the Doctor replied simply.

"Then what do we do?" Scarlett asked.

"Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose."

"Oh, this is just so you, isn't it?" Rory sighed.

"Rory, don't," Scarlett pleaded. She was tired and her panic level was slowly rising. She didn't need anything else getting on her nerves.

"What?" the Doctor frowned.

"What, a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live and only one man to save the day? I just wanted a nice village and a family."

"Oh dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks," said the Dream Lord who appeared behind the Time Lord and successfully scared the absolute crap out of Scarlett with his sudden entrance, "There –"

"Shut up!" Scarlett interrupted. The Doctor looked at her with wide eyes and Rory looked shocked. Amy just nodded in agreement.

The Dream Lord smirked, "I'm sorry?"

"Just shut up and leave! I don't know what you're doing here or what you want but we're not going to be some little piece on your chessboard. We're not playing your game!"

The Dream Lord blinked, evidently surprised at the sudden outburst. After a moment, the smirk returned, "Is that so? Oh, I can see why he likes you; a young, beautiful, feisty girl just dying for a little bit of adventure. Do you know your way around yet?" He grinned, gesturing to the TARDIS with his arms outstretched, "Has he shown you the bedroom?"

Rage swelled up inside of the Doctor and he stepped forward. Before he could say anything, Amy placed a comforting hand on his arm and looked directly at the man in front of them, "You heard what she said. Now leave."

"Can you imagine what would happen if he had never come back for you two?" The Dream Lord continued as if there had been no interruptions at all, "There would be no excitement in your lives. No adventure. Nobody there to save you." Scarlett reached out behind her and Amy immediately pulled away from the Doctor to grab her hand tightly. "You don't want to play my game right now… but you will."

That was when the birdsong started once more and Scarlett felt Amy's grip on her hand falter. The Dream Lord smirked as Scarlett fell against the console but when she glanced at the Doctor and Rory, she noticed that they were still standing up straight.

"Don't you hear that?" she managed to force out. The Doctor looked terrified as Rory ran to help Amy stand up. He was failing miserably.

"Hear what? What do you hear?" he asked frantically.

"The birds," Amy croaked.

"You don't hear them?" Scarlett tried again.

The Doctor just shook his head and wrapped his arms around Scarlett to hold her up, "No, but you can stay awake. You both can. Just block it out. Stay awake."

"We can't… stay…" Amy's voice cut off as both her and Scarlett's knees gave way. They fell slack in the men's arms and the Doctor looked up at the Dream Lord in anger.

"Where have you put them?"

The Dream Lord shrugged, "They didn't want to be a part of my little chessboard… Now they have no choice."

* * *

"Where are we?" Amy asked as Scarlett picked herself up off of the ground.

The brunette shook her head in response as she looked around the room. It was dark, but there were two beams of light a little way behind them. She fumbled in the darkness and grabbed her friend's hand, "I don't know."

"Don't you?" said a voice from behind. They turned, and although it was dark, it was difficult to not notice the faint outline of the Dream Lord.

"What's going on? Where have you put us?" Amy demanded.

The man disappeared, only to reappear closer to the beams of light. Scarlett began to move forward hesitantly and gasped. Beside her, Amy did the same, "Oh my God."

The beams of light they had noticed previously were there for a reason. Underneath one, sat the Doctor; unconscious and tied up in a chair. Underneath the other, Rory sat; asleep and tied up just like his friend.

"Figured it out yet?" the Dream Lord asked.

"Figured what out?" Scarlett asked; her eyes still glued to the men in front of her.

"Oh, and I thought you were the smart ones," he tutted, "Let me give you a hint."

With a click of his fingers, the lights in the room switched on, finally letting the girls see their surroundings. When Scarlett looked down at the floor, she saw that the piece of ground she was standing on was black, whereas under Amy's feet, it was white. They were standing on a giant chessboard.

"You sick son of a bitch," Scarlett muttered to herself before raising her head defiantly. "So where's the danger then, hm?"

"Scarlett," Amy said, fear creeping into her voice. Her eyes were stuck to something just behind Rory and the Doctor and whatever it was; it wasn't good. Scarlett followed her gaze and outwardly cringed. There, just in front of them, was a Dalek. It seemed rusty and old but it was slowly repairing itself. They wouldn't have long before it came back to life.

"Ext… ter… min… ate," it said feebly as it struggled to restore itself.

"You can't be serious," Scarlett said, glaring at the Dream Lord who had moved to stand in between the Doctor and Rory.

He held out his right hand and looked at Scarlett, all while gesturing to the Time Lord. "There once was a man from Gallifrey that ended up throwing his life away. But then he met you and his wishes came true; that lonely old man from Gallifrey."

"Stop it," Scarlett said weakly.

The Dream Lord raised an eyebrow in amusement before signalling to Rory with his left hand and looking directly at Amy, "Two of you are a perfect match, but what was the Doctor done? He's gotten other people into trouble again, and here's the catch…" He disappeared yet again and when he returned, he was a mere step away from the girls. They inhaled sharply and took a small step back as the Dream Lord finished his rhyme.

"You can only save one."


End file.
